Obuah reportedly died at the National Hospital, Abuja, after suffering “massive heart attack”.

The Department of State Services (DSS) had arrested Obuah two months after his principal left power and was detained at the headquarters of the agency.

To protest his detention, Obuah embarked on hunger strike, but the secret police released him after his lawyer raised the alarm over his health condition.

He later fell ill.

Obuah was accused of benefiting from an oil bunkering deal, an allegation he denied but the panel which investigated him was dissatisfied with his explanation and recommended his dismissal from the DSS.

He was later dismissed from service.

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The Deputy Director of Operations, EFCC, Iliyasu Kwarbai, said this shortly after he received a petition from Human Rights Defenders and Advocacy Centre group, which staged a protest to the EFCC’s Lagos office.

The petition urged the EFCC to probe Patience Jonathan, the source of APC campaign funds used in the last elections, Tinubu, Amaechi and some former presidents of Nigeria.

Kwarbai said: “We’re investigating Patience Jonathan and if she’s found wanting, she wouldn’t go free. If anyone is indicted, no matter how highly or lowly placed the person is, the person would be arrested. The person’s status is immaterial to the EFCC.

“The most important thing is evidence. If there’s evidence that the person stole public funds, the person wouldn’t go free.”?

Asked if the protest staged by the advocacy group would hasten investigations against those alleged in the petition, Kwarbai said: “The protesters came to our office, not only because of Patience Jonathan, but there were also other matters.

“They talked about Amaechi, Olusegun Obasanjo, Tinubu and others. They came to our office and started dancing. We allowed them to finish dancing. After that, they submitted a petition against Patience. They want us to also investigate APC funds. I have already sent the petition to my chairman for action.

“Any petition brought to our office, is always investigated. There are however two major things the group wanted to be investigated: Patience Jonathan and APC campaign funds.”

Asked if Tinubu would be investigated, Kwarbai said: “Anybody mentioned would be investigated. We don’t shield anybody. That’s our job.

The petition, entitled: “Demand for arrest, prosecution of Patience Jonathan, probe of APC campaign fund and no more sacred cow in the anti-corruption crusade,” was signed by the President of the group, Queen Ameh, and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Innocent Agbo.

The group wondered why Patience Jonathan was still walking free when evidences had already indicted her.

The group urged the EFCC to go after Patience, and ex-Presidents, including Ibrahim Babangida, Abdusalam Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.

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The ex-President’s wife who stated this in a statement on Thursday by her media aide, Chima Osuji, alleged that the EFCC presented four unknown persons, who were not authorised by the companies’ boards to plead guilty on behalf of the companies.

She said it was a ploy by the EFCC to ensure that her hard-earn money was confiscated.

The ex-President’s wife argued that the EFCC failed to comply with Section 477 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, by not presenting to the court on Thursday any letter to show that the four persons were authorised by the companies to represent them.

“This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money.

“It is an irony that it was the former First Lady who went to court for the repatriation of her confiscated money when she realised that the EFCC and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue after she had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money. Up till this very moment, the EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for questioning.

“The biggest twist in court on Thursday was that the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the 15 counts. It is clear that these unknown faces were agents of the EFCC, who have been stage-managed and tutored to come to court to complicate the case as a strategy to confiscate her money,” the ex-President’s wife’s aide, Osuji, said.

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Paradang said the former minister described the employment of some family members of those who died in the stampede, as “illegal”but told the court that only those who were qualified for junior positions out of 45 total family members of 15 victims, were given jobs.

Paradang did not say the exact number of those employed and was also unclear whether former President Jonathan was consulted by the former minister before the employment offers were cancelled.

Moro and four others are facing an 11-count charge of money laundering, arising from the conduct of the tragic recruitment.

They are accused of defrauding 676, 675 applicants of N676. 7 million being the aggregate of N1000 paid by each applicant to the recruiting agent, Drexel Nigeria Limited, a company Mr. Moro had ties with.

Despite the huge amount realized from applicants, the recruitment was poorly organised, resulting in deadly stampedes across the country.

Paradang, who is the first prosecution witness in Moro’s trial, told the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday that after a presidential directive of employment to victims’ relatives, Moro ordered the withdrawal of offer letters.

“At the close of the day, we had 15 casualties and the office of the State Security Services later called to inform us that they were 165 persons injured nationally.

“Soon after the compilation of names of victims, the service received an order from the presidency, which was flouted by Mr. Moro.

“Immediately after the letters were sent, the board (board of the Interior Ministry) asked them (the fresh applicants who were relatives of the deceased victims) to bring back the letters of appointment. The ministry said that the appointments given to them were illegal,” he told the court.

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Azibaola and his wife, Stella, were arraigned alongside their company, One Plus Holding Limited on a seven 7-count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The couples were alleged to have diverted $40million purportedly meant for the supply of tactical communication kits for Special Forces.

The money was transferred from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria to the domiciliary account of their company, One Plus Holdings.

The offence is in contravention of Section 8(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act”

Count one reads:
“That you, Azibaola Robert (M), being the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) and a signatory to the Zenith Bank account of ONE PLUS HOLDINGS. LTD; Mrs. Stella Azibaola Robert, being a director and a signatory to the Zenith Bank account of ONE PLUS HOLDINGS NIG. LTD and Amobi Ogum (M) (now at large) on or about the 8th September, 2014 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to commit an illegal act to wit; money laundering of the sum of $40 million transferred to the domiciliary account of ONE PLUS HOLDINGS NIG.LTD with Zenith Bank Plc, Account No. 5070365750 from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria upon a transfer mandate Ref. No. 128/S.5LX/139 purporting to be for the supply of Tactical Communication Kits for Special Forces and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act”

The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the counts preferred against them.

In view of their plea, counsel to EFCC, Aliyu Yusuf urged the court to fix a date for trial and remand the accused in prison custody.

However, Robert’s counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, told the court that he had a pending application dated May 24, 2016 brought pursuant to Section 36 (5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 seeking for the bail of his client to enable the defence prepare for trial.

Moving the bail application, Uche argued that bail is at the discretion of the court, adding that the offence is bailable.

He went on to inform the court that, the defendant had been in EFCC custody for over two months and the constitution is clear on how long a suspect should be kept before being arraigned.

To this, Uche contended that Robert’s right as a citizen to bail as guaranteed by law had been breached.

The same argument was also canvassed by Stella’s counsel, Gordy Uche, SAN, to seek her bail.

Uche stated that Stella had been on administrative bail granted by the EFCC and has not breached any of the terms.

Responding, counsel to EFCC, Aliyu Yusuf opposed both applications.
He urged the court to refuse the applications considering the severity of the offence which according to him carried a punishment of between 7 to 21 years imprisonment.

On the issue of the detention of the first defendant, Yusuf told the court that at no time did EFCC detain any defendant without a valid court order.

He said that the second defendant who predicated her application for bail on health grounds did not provide any medical report to back it up.

While Justice Dimgba ruled that Stella could continue to enjoy the administrative bail earlier granted her by the EFCC and adjourned to June 8, 2016 for ruling on the bail application of the first defendant.

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Jonathan declared on Monday: “Of course obviously, we’ve been investigated, and I’m being investigated,” and insisted that his successor should be allowed to do his work, stressing that “After all these investigations, the whole stories will be properly chronicled. I’ve just left office, and I should allow the president and his team to do what they believe is good for the country.”

Jonathan who spoke in an exclusive interview with the New York-based Bloomberg TV, after a speech he delivered at Bloomberg Studios, London, the United Kingdom declined to make further comments on the Buhari presidency, saying: “As the immediate past president, it is improper to make certain statements when the government is working.”

Many aides and associates of the former president are under investigation with many of them currently in detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for $2.1billion meant for the procurement of arms for the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country with some Nigerians calling for Jonathan to be investigated as well.

But contrary to the perception in some quarters that the administration of Jonathan was abjectly corrupt and inept, the former leader said his government took many steps to curtail graft in the areas of finance, agriculture and petroleum.

In his speech, Jonathan said beyond job creation, Nigeria like other developing countries, faced the challenge of corruption, which is a stumbling block to the development of nations.

On how his government tackled corruption, Jonathan said: “I think it is important to let you know my administration took many steps to curtail this scourge, in the areas of finance, agriculture and petroleum.

“To take just one example, we drastically reduced corruption in the agricultural sector with the help of a simple mobile phone. We achieved this by providing an e-wallet to farmers, which grew the percentage of registered farmers receiving subsidy from 11 per cent to 94 per cent. And in the process we were also able to save billions of naira in fertiliser subsidies.

“Through our Agricultural Transformation Agenda, we greatly boosted food production and saved almost a trillion of naira on food imports.

“This one initiative had the benefits of improving food security, creating more jobs and reducing inflation to its lowest levels in over five years.”

He also explained that the ambition of his government was to check the corruption in petroleum subsidies by completely deregulating the sector but lamented that unhealthy political resistance frustrated the efforts.

“Consolidating democracy and the effective war against graft should be the collective responsibility of all citizens,” he said.

He acknowledged that there had been corruption right from the country’s independence but defended his administration’s anti-graft war.

“I cannot say the country from the beginning of our independence, that there was no corruption, yes there has been corruption. I did very well also, to curtail corruption,” he said.

Explaining how he approached the fight against corruption, Jonathan said: “My approach to corruption, was ‘don’t make money available for anyone to touch.’

While he expressed commitment to good governance, effective stewardship and transparency, the former president insisted that for Nigeria to further develop, it needs peace, freedom and unity, saying: “These values need to be deeply, strongly and irreversibly entrenched in Nigeria for all time. For this to happen, it is imperative for both the executive and the legislative arms of government to institute a Bill of Rights.”

He said: “Such a Bill of Rights will end discrimination and tribalism, and promote equality, enabling everyone to work towards the common goal for the development of the nation.

“A Bill of Rights, which like the British Magna Carta, some 800 years ago, enshrined the principle of habeas corpus so that no person is deprived of his liberty without a trial of his peers.

“A Bill of Rights, like that introduced by America’s Founding Fathers, which stated that ‘the people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.’

“There is a statement by Cicero going back to ancient Rome.

He said: ‘Civis Romanus Sum’ meaning : ‘I am a Roman citizen.’

But it meant much more than that. It meant that every Roman was entitled to all of the rights and protections of a citizen in Rome. It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor or even a prisoner, you were still a citizen of Rome and protected by the state. Wouldn’t it be good for us to aspire to a Nigeria where we too could apply that same principle: ‘Civis Nigerianus Sum?’

“Each of us could say, ‘I am a citizen of Nigeria!’ We would be able to look beyond where each of us comes from, and look past our tribal origins.

“We would be able to evaluate each other on our merits, rather than our religion, or region. We would be free to think or do as we wished, as long as we observe the laws of the land, without fear that the land would withhold our rights under the law.

“What would it mean to be able to declare ‘I am a Nigerian citizen?’ You would be judged on your own merits, not your tribe. You would have access to education that can help you succeed on whatever path you choose. You would be part of a proud culture, one that others want to invest in.

“You would be safe in knowing that society judges you by your successes and failures, rather than your place of origin. You would be equal before the law and your protection is enshrined in the laws of the country.

“You would be an asset and a valued member of your country; one who is worth investing in; who can return that investment tenfold within your lifetime. Ultimately, it means that you would be an ambassador for Nigeria, and you would be able to proudly go around this world and say: ‘I am a citizen of Nigeria,” he added.

According to the former president, his administration decided to invest in people because “if we did not invest in our people, then we will not be ready to manage.

“Our money, he said, must go towards providing education for all, because we know that once our citizens are educated, they have futures.

“Those futures lead to safer cities, stable economies, and more businesses. When a young person does not have access to education, their future is jeopardised and statistics show that they may be prone to antisocial and criminal activities.”

He said: “I am proud of the fact that my administration established a federal university in every one of the 12 states that did not previously have them. Now, for the first time in our country’s history, every state has a university established by the Federal Government.

“Despite it not being the responsibility of the Federal Government to develop primary and secondary schools, we built hundreds of these schools across Nigeria.

“Yet we need to build on these achievements by changing our mindset to investing in the resources above the ground, rather than below the ground. Once we invest in our citizens, it will be our time to confidently enter the international stage.”

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The former presidential aide reportedly made a surprise visit to the former president on Sunday at his Hilltop G.R.A. residence in Abeokuta, to seek reconciliation after remaining estranged from the former leader for years.

One source said security operatives at Obasanjo’s residence initially blocked Okupe from accessing the former president’s home but that he was allowed in after “baba came downstairs and told the boys to let him in,” a source hinted our correspondent in Abeokuta.

Sources said Obasanjo initially rejected Okupe’s plea, saying “you cannot abuse me in the papers, on TV, on radio and on the streets and then come here to privately apologise.

“Why don’t you mount the same platforms you used in abusing me to apologise to me?” a witness quoted Obasanjo as saying.

“Baba said he was baffled to see Okupe verbally assaulting him in the media just because he was given appointment by Jonathan,” the source said. “If he were a true son of Yorubaland, he would not have gone to that extent because Baba was the first to appoint him a media aide over 16 years ago.

“Baba appointed him as one of his first aides when he became the first president after democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999, only for him to turn his back against Baba when he got a similar appointment from Jonathan many years later. Now that he has gone to bite more than he can chew, he’s desperate for Baba’s forgiveness.”

“There’s an adage in Yoruba that says when a dog has gone to put itself into fury inferno, it will become desperate to return to its owner,” the source added.
After a brief intervention by those present at the meeting, sources said, Obasanjo agreed to forgive Okupe because he (Obasanjo) is an elder statesman and father to many.

“Baba said he has forgiven him because of his respected position as an elder statesman, but that may not stop him (Okupe) from committing the same offence in future,” the source said.

Okupe said on his Facebook page on Friday that, “Last sunday, in the company of some friends I met with Baba Obasanjo principally to try and settle and resolve the misunderstanding that has existed between baba and I since I joined the Jonathan administration.

“Vintage baba, he descended on me heavily and vented his anger copiously. I prostrated and held his feet as a well trained Yoruba man and pleaded earnestly for his forgiveness, occasionally given short explanations for areas I considered my actions were misunderstood.

“Also typical of baba, ever willing to forgive a repentant son, we embraced; I even kissed him as a loving son.

“Politics sometimes is such a bad business, you hurt your friends and even benefactors, but all is well that ends well.”

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The funds were allegedly withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and shared to 10 other directors, directorates, zonal directors and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization of Jonathan.

However, Fani-Kayode declared Friday that he knew nothing about the withdrawal of the cash from the CBN or funding of the campaign by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, but admitted that campaign funds were paid into the account of a company linked with a former Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman, from where it was shared to him and others.

He dared the EFCC to “do their worse” in a statement in Abuja entitled “The Money Transfers and the Truth about the Presidential Campaign Funds.”

Details of the largesse sharing are as follows: Fani-Kayode (N840million); Goodluck Support Group (N320million); Achike Udenwa and Viola Onwuliri (N350million); Nenadi Usman (N140million); and Okey Ezenwa (N100million).

Giving his own side of the story, Fani-Kayode said he received the funds from ex-President Jonathan and he is accountable only to the former leader and not the EFCC.

He said the funds disbursed were not from public coffers and these were routed through a private company.

“Our funds were given to us by the President who was the leader of our party through the Director of Finance of the PCO and we were not in a position to inquire into the sources of funding of the party’s campaign. Indeed, it was not our responsibility to do so.

“Once I got these clarifications and confirmations, I agreed to receive the funds into my bank account and use them for their stated purpose.

“The transfers were made and I used the funds to carry out all our operations during the course of the presidential campaign.

“It was an aggressive and well-run campaign and we gave our opponents a very hard time indeed. It was also very expensive and we barely had the resources that we really needed, but we did an effective job with the little we were given.

“The whole nation, including our friends and our enemies, can bear witness to that and they saw the excellent quality of our work. Hardly anyone can dispute this, yet some fail to appreciate the fact that such a strong showing costs a lot of money. Media and publicity campaigns cannot be run on goodwill alone. You need cash and plenty of it.

“During the course of the election and after its conclusion, I submitted detailed accounts of our expenses and evidence of our work to the Director of Finance of the PCO for onward transmission to the Director-General of the PCO and ultimately President Jonathan himself about how the money was spent and they were satisfied.

“Given the fact that these were not public funds, the only legal body that can inquire into our expenditure of campaign funds is President Goodluck Jonathan who set up the PCO.”

Continuing, he said: “I cannot sit by silently as my name is dragged through the mud in this way and I am convicted in the court of public opinion. This has happened to me once before and it took me seven years to clear my name. It will not happen to me again.

“Consequently I am constrained to take this opportunity to state the facts of this matter, set the record straight and await my traducers and accusers to make their next move. It is indeed time to challenge those that are making these allegations and to kill the lie.

“The fact that my bank account was frozen on the orders of the EFCC two weeks ago without any explanation is proof of the fact that I am being targeted and that those that seek to have their wicked way with me are about to pounce.

“Given this, it is important that all the relevant facts are put before the world before I am subjected to the Dasuki treatment, put away indefinitely and not given the opportunity to defend myself before the public. Meanwhile, in their usual manner, after this is done, the EFCC will then flood the media with all manner of lies about my so-called atrocities which only exist in the figment of their imagination.

“The allegation of fraud and the receipt of public funds from the National Security Adviser’s Office and Central Bank into my bank account are false.

“These allegations are baseless, wicked, shameful and irresponsible. It is not true that any money was paid into my account by or from the National Security Adviser’s Office, the Central Bank of Nigeria or any other government agency or institution last year or at any other time.”

He said the funds were wired into his account and others through a company associated with ex-Minister Nenadi Usman.

”As the Director of Media and Publicity of the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organization, I was asked to submit a budget for my Directorate by Chief Tony Anenih, the Presidential Adviser to the Presidential Campaign Organization and Mrs. Nenadi Usman, the Director of Finance. My team and I prepared the budget and it was approved.

“Rather than collect cash, for security reasons and the purposes of accountability, I was advised by the Director of Finance to open a bank account for this purpose, which I did.

“The funds were paid into that account in instalments at the beginning of last year by the Director of Finance and each deposit was authorized and approved by the Presi dential Adviser to the PCO, Chief Tony Anenih.

“The account that they used to transfer the money to me was a private company account which was owned or under the control of the Director of Finance.

“It was the same company account that was used to send money to all the other Directors of the PCO and the Zonal Directors, State Directors and all our PDP governorship and legislative candidates during the various campaigns.

“When I asked about the sources of the funds, I was told by the Director of Finance that the funds were sourced from private individuals and private companies who opted to support and fund President Jonathan’s campaign. She told me that no money was paid into her company from any government official, account or agency. This she told me in the presence of witnesses and I believed her.

“I was told that there was a fundraising event held by our party (PDP) which took place in early January 2015 in which billions of naira were raised specifically for the Presidential campaign. I believed this to be true and I had no reason to doubt it.”

The ex-Minister said the slush funds were shared to 10 other directors, directorates, zonal directors and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization of Jonathan.”

He wondered why he has been the subject of “absurd and outlandish headline stories in various newspapers which have accused me of being a fraudster and which have claimed that funds were transferred into my bank account by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, and by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

Such stories, he claimed , portrayed him as having used public funds for the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He branded such stories as petty, shameful, nauseating and “also a reflection of the desperation of those that seek to pull me down and destroy me simply because my opposition to this government has been unrelenting.”

“In January 2015, I was appointed as the Director of Media and Publicity for the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The Director-General of the Campaign Organization was Senator Ahmadu Alli and the Deputy Director-Generals were Alhaji Ibrahim Turaki SAN (North) and Governor Peter Obi (South).

“Chief Tony Anenih, an elder statesman and one of the most distinguished and revered leaders in our country, was the Presidential Adviser to the campaign organization.

“There were at least 10 other directors and directorates apart from me and mine including the Directorate of Mobilization which was led by the respected Professor Jerry Gana and the Directorate of Administration which was led by Alhaji Aliyu Modibbo. There were also zonal and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization in all the zones and states of the country.

“All these names that I have mentioned including all the other directors whose names I have not mentioned are, as far as I am aware, men and women of immense integrity and good character and they have mostly been either ministers of the Federal Republic or state governors at one time or the other in our history. It was an honour to serve alongside such people and I have absolutely no regrets about doing so.

“Yet given the fact that I was not the only director in the campaign organization and in view of the fact that all the directors and zonal and state directors got their funds from the same source and account as I did, one wonders why only I and three others should be singled out for this reprehensible treatment and these false allegations.

“I chose to remain silent on the issue until now simply because the allegations have not been officially made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or anyone else, but the newspapers keep citing their sources “inside the EFCC” as their basis for these shameful allegations.

“Mr. Josef Goebbels, Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s information minister, when Germany was in the terrible grip of the Nazi party, said that once a lie is repeated enough times, it becomes truth to those who are continuously subjected to it. This is especially so if it goes unchallenged.”

Fani-Kayode, who took swipes at the EFCC in his statement, asked the anti-graft agency to “do the worst.” “Yet if this is an attempt to intimidate, silence or distract me, they shall fail because I am not a coward and I do not fear them or those that sent them to torment me.

“As long as Jesus is on the throne and our hands are clean, no matter how long it takes, we shall prevail and ultimately they will pay a heavy price for their malice, injustice and wickedness.

“These are facts and readers can be rest assured that I will say nothing different from this if and when I am formally asked by anyone or any agency.

“When the EFCC begins to leak their falsehood and salacious allegations to their agents in the media, kindly take note of the fact that, as usual, they will be telling tall tales and they will be lying.

“Now I challenge them to do their worse. I have no fear of them or of those who have sent them to do this dirty job. May God judge them all and may He reward them for their wickedness.

“The suggestion that the money was some kind of “cash bonanza” or “bazaar” as has been reported by the leading pro-government newspaper in the country today is childish and absurd.

“If that had been the case, I doubt that I would have been foolish enough to open a bank account to receive government funds or “bazaar funds” as this would have been easily traced.

“If I had anything to hide or if I was doing anything wrong, I would have insisted on collecting cash for my operations which would have been far easier to conceal.

“The fact that the EFCC gained access to my bank account and leaked details of it to the media, including my inflows, is not only a gross violation of my privacy, but it is also unlawful.”

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The judge, in a ruling Tuesday, slammed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for detaining Adegbe for about 20 days without either charging him to court or granting him administrative bail.

The judge, in reaction to EFCC’s claim that Adegbe was being held on the directive of the Nigerian Army, wondered if the EFCC was an appendage of the Nigerian Army.

The judge, whose ruling was on Adegbe’s fundamental rights enforcement application, ordered the EFCC to release the applicant on liberal terms.

The judge, however, refused the applicant’s ‎prayer for N100m compensation for unlawful detention and his demand for written apology.

Declaring as unconstitutional and illegal the detention of the applicant since February 11 without filing charges against him.

The judge also reprimanded the anti-graft agency for “reducing itself to the police station or detention centre of the Nigerian Army”.

The judge noted that the EFCC took contradictory ‎positions by claiming that it was investigating alleged arms procurement fraud for which Adegbe was arrested and in another breath claimed to be holding the plaintiff on the instruction of the Army.

“While the respondent (EFCC) is dancing makossa in one ‎side, it is singing another song on the other side,” he said.

The judge however said he was unable to direct the EFCC to pay damages to the applicant or tender apology to him, since he remained in the service of the Army and the anti-graft agency was equally a government agency.

“On the whole, the respondent is ordered to grant bail to the applicant in liberal terms,” the judge ruled.

Adegbe has been in EFCC custody since February 11 in relation to investigation into alleged fraud in the procurement of arms for the armed forces.

He sued, contesting his continued detention without trial.

The EFCC had justified the detention, arguing that it was the Nigerian Army that brought him to the office of the respondent, in furtherance of their investigation into detected financial crimes committed in the arms procurement involving the applicant.

EFCC’s lawyer, Francis Jirbo stated in a counter-affidavit, that contrary to Adegbe’s claim, he (the applicant) was not invited by the Nigerian Army at the instigation of the EFCC.

“That contrary to the depositions contained in paragraph 12 of the affidavit in support of the applicant’s application, the respondent states that the applicant is in custody at the instance of his employee, the Nigerian Army.”

Jirbo added that the directive to investigate Adegbe followed the activities of the committee set up by the Federal Government in October 2015.

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The septuagenarian was snatched away from his residence in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, Wednesday.

Nitabai was first kidnapped on February 23, 2014 during the administration of the ex-President.

His first abduction attracted attention as the Federal Government activated all security networks within the Niger Delta region to rescue him.

After spending over two weeks in the kidnappers’ den, Nitabai was rescued on March 13, 2014, by the police, which claimed no ransom was paid to the abductors.

The 2014 operation was carried out by 10 armed men, who stormed Nitabai’s expansive compound at about 9 pm and took him away without firing a shot.

Another attempt to abduct Nitabai was also made by a gang of kidnappers, whose operation was foiled by the police, but sources said that the latest incident at 3:30 am was carried out by seven gunmen.

An uncle to the victim, who spoke in confidence, wondered how the gunmen managed to abduct the septuagenarian, who enjoyed the protection of two police guards.

Alleging insider collaboration, he asked the police to begin their investigation with the people around the old man.

“I woke up this morning to hear that my uncle, who is the head of former President Jonathan’s compound, has been kidnapped. It is disheartening that he has fallen into the hands of kidnappers again.

“It was by divine intervention he survived the first abduction. We are appealing to his assailants to release him unconditionally”, he said.

Details of the abduction were sketchy yesterday. Sources said the gunmen might have entered Nitabai’s residence from the creek behind his compound.

Police spokesman Asinim Butswat, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.

He said: “A massive manhunt have been launched by a team of Marine Police and Anti-Kidnapping Unit, to rescue the victim and arrest the abductors. Investigation is on.”

Amid sporadic gunshots, a businessman, who owns Jossy Class Super Store at No. 9, Abakaliki Street, Mile One, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State was kidnapped yesterday.

Jossy, whose full name could not be ascertained as at press time, is a wholesale and retail dealer of wine, alcoholic and soft drinks, in a shop not far from the Mile One Divisional Police Headquarters.

The businessman was kidnapped around 5 p.m. by some young gunmen, while sitting in front of his shop with friends and associates, with his aides attending to customers.

The kidnappers, who came to Jossy’s shop in a black saloon car, picked their target, pushed him into their steaming car and zoomed off to an unknown destination, while shooting sporadically, to avoid confrontation in the densely-populated area.

Rivers police spokesman Muhammad Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said he had not got the details from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Mile One divisional police headquarters.

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