The Presidency again on Monday confronted former President Goodluck Jonathan with instances of alleged corrupt practices during his administration.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice - President on Media and Publicity , Mr . Laolu Akande, gave the instances in a statement made available to journalists .
Akande said the statement was a direct reply to reports attributed to Jonathan’ s media office that the cases of corruption being mentioned were not true and that the government officials restating the instances were liars.
He recalled that Vice - President Yemi Osinbajo had recently said three persons stole $ 3 bn during the last administration .
He said , “ As the Vice - President said , $ 3 bn was stolen in the so - called NNPC Strategic Alliance Contracts. The three persons involved are Jide Omokore , Kola Aluko and the former Petroleum Resources Minister , Diezani Alison - Maduekwe.
“The companies of both Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko lifted Nigerian crude oil and kept the proceeds . The total sums converted is in excess of $ 3 bn including royalties , taxes , and fees unpaid for the asset from which the crude was taken .
“The case is the subject of a trial in Nigeria , and criminal investigations in the US and UK, and the assets of all the three individuals have been forfeited in Nigeria , the US , and the UK. ”
Akande also cited the alleged diversion and theft of sums in excess of $ 2 . 5 bn meant for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against Boko Haram .
He said the first phase of the investigations revealed several sordid details , many of the assets of the culprits have been seized from them and they are facing trial.
He added, “The release of the sum of $ 289 m in cash on February 25 , 2015 . Documents including cash vouchers indicated that the sum of $ 289 , 202 , 382 was taken from the Joint Venture Cash Call Account No . 000 - 0000 - 11658- 366 of the NNPC/ NAPIMS with JP Morgan Chase Bank , New York, USA .
“N70 bn was released in parts from the national treasury between January 8 and February 25, 2015 .
“In another illegal disbursement on August 25 , 2014 , N60 bn in cash, in tranches of N40 bn and N20 bn : the sum was not tied to any project or procurement and was then shared between two security agencies under the supervision of the then NSA .
“Most of these sums ended up in the hands of senior PDP members some of whom had returned parts of the loot . Some are standing trial for these offences . These facts are in the public domain. ”
The presidential spokesman added that there was another set of illegal fund withdrawals under one week between January 8 and 16, 2015 , where the sum of N1 . 5 bn was released in three tranches of N300 m , N400 m and N800 m respectively .
This money, he said , was released from the MEA Research Library Account .
“Another document showed that N10 bn was released to the Office of the National Security Adviser by the Central Bank of Nigeria on September 15 , 2014 . The money was released in tranches of foreign exchange of $ 47m , $ 5 m , 4 m Euros and 1 . 6 m Euros .
“A letter from the Office of the NSA in November 2014 further showed that the monies were released as ‘ funds for special services . ’ This particular release of N10 bn was sourced in November 2014 from the N40 bn released by the CBN for Corporate Social Responsibility . Investigations showed that this money was released for the PDP presidential primaries, ” he added.
Akande said the then CBN Governor , Lamido Sanusi , was allegedly sacked for speaking up about the over $ 20 bn missing from oil proceeds .
However, Jonathan’ s ex - aide , Reno Omokri , in his response , stated that the statement by the Vice -President’ s aide had vindicated his (Omokri ’ s ) earlier assertion that Osinbajo lied when he said three persons in the Jonathan administration stole $ 3 bn .
Omokri , in a statement on Monday in Abuja, recalled that Osinbajo , at The Platform , a programme organised by the Covenant Christian Centre , alleged that three individuals stole $ 3 bn under the Jonathan administration .
He said that the people cited by the Vice - President were not part of the Jonathan government.
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