As the Nigerian economy continues its steady nosedive into the dark trenches of uncertainty and imminent disaster, the cabal within the presidency appear increasing emboldened by the unravelling administration of President Buhari. Information available to 247ureports.com obtained from a consortium of competent sources in and around the presidency indicate some of the President’s men in the likes of Abba Kyari, Babachir Lawal and others have devised a method of utilizing the Bureau of Public Procurement [BPP] to execute ungodly extortion rackets.
As a caveat, Abba Kyari, Babachir Lawal, Ahmed Joda – through the influence of Mamam Daura were strategically placed at key positions within the Buhari administration to ensure maximum execution of an extortion racket. The cabal used their men at each of the assigned posts to execute projects and collect the gains with or without merit. This is as reported by this online newspaper on November 2016 – Exposing the Mafia Holding Buhari and The Nation Hostage.
With the arrival of the substantive Director General of the BPP, in October 2016, the extortion racket turned their attention to the BPP. The new BPP Director General Mamam Ahmadu had gotten the position of DG resulting from his close relationship with Abba Kyari. Mamam Ahmadu is the neighbor to Abba Kyari at their residential quarters in Kaduna. They both share the same fence. Our source indicates that Abba Kyari personally penciled Mamam Ahmadu’s name as the new DG for the BPP. Our source reveal also that the sum of N25million was handed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation [SGF] to facilitate for his placement at the lucrative post of DG.
Maman Ahmadu who is a practicing Quantity Surveyor and a principal at an engineering consulting firm – took on the task of turning the BPP into a cesspit of corruption head on. One of his major task was to issue a certificate of no objection for the projects performed under the Presidential Initiative for the North East [PINE] – which the former acting DG of BPP refused to issue citing issues bordering on corruption. It was Maman Ahmadu issuance of certificate of no objection and certificate of due process that enabled the SGF to award the contracts under the PINE to his companies and then collect the monies through the backdoor.
His issuance of the certificate facilitated the project that got the SGF suspended.
According to a recent Senate committee report, it revealed how the suspended SGF, Babachir Lawal racked in billions of Naira through shady deals in the PINE. The Committee report revealed that after receiving payments from PINE, at least five companies separately paid about N450 million to the Eco Bank account (182001809) of Rholavision Engineering Limited owned by Mr. Lawal according to CAC and self-admission, and his private account (0003004417) with Diamond Bank, bank statements showed.
According to a CBN confirmation attached to the report, Mr. Lawal was still the signatory to the account of Rholavision until February 15, 2017 which shares the same Bank Verification Number with his personal account and 13 other accounts in commercial banks.
The excesses of the cabal and the BPP DG did not end at PINE.
The BPP DG turned itself into a shake up and shake down entity to amass bribes from various ministries engaged in the awards of public contracts. Shortly after receiving his hand over notes from the acting DG, he ordered an across the board ‘review’ of contracts awarded and cleared prior to his arrival as the BPP DG. He turned first to the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, querying the awards of contracts of 10 major roads and bridges valued at N166billion. His aim according to a source with the ministry was to extort money on behalf of the cabal.
The projects which the DG queried included the rehabilitation of Numan-Jalingo Road awarded to Deux Projects Ltd for N11.7 billion; replacement of substandard bridges along Gusau-Sokoto Road awarded to Triacta Nig. Ltd (N1.01 billion); construction of Ojutu Bridge in Ilobu, Osun State awarded to Halicass Integrated Ltd (N522.2 million); construction of Ohan-Moro Bridge on Ilorin-Igbeti Road awarded to Bonus Nig. Ltd (N942.6 million); and rehabilitation of Abuja-Kaduna Road awarded to CGC Nig. Ltd (N26.9 billion). The rehabilitation of Kaduna-Zaria Road in Katsina State awarded to Arab Contractors Nig. Ltd for N14.8 billon; rehabilitation of Zaria-Kano Road in Kaduna/Kano State awarded to Reynold Construction Nig. Ltd (N69.9 billion); and the construction of Burga-Dull-Mbatill-TadnumGpbiya-Badagari-Gwaranga-Sum, Bauchi State awarded to Rahama Civil Works Nig. Ltd (N10.9 billion). The construction of Tudun Wuss-Wandi-Wandi-Baraza-Durr-Zumbul-Polchi-Dot-Kwanar Road, Bauchi State awarded to Dalum Construction Nig. at N12.2 billion and the construction of Pankshin-Tapshin-Gambar-Sara-Kai-Gindiri Road in Plateau State awarded to Metropolitan Construction Company Limited at N15.3 billion.
The BPP DG query put a hold in the execution of the same projects. This is as some top officials of the BPP who were conversant with the award of the contracts told 247ureports.com that they are not clear on why the BPP DG would be asking the ministry to go through another process of post-qualification of firms after all award processes have been completed.
The BPP DG has nonetheless continued fearless in his prowess. A source within the BPP explained that it would not be appropriate to suspend the SGF without suspending the BPP DG. The DG is reported to be a facilitator of the soiling of the PINE project.
One of the parameters and/or symptoms showing the focus of the BPP DG being misplaced can be seen by simply visiting the BPP’s official website [http://www.bpp.gov.ng/]. It was last updated in 2016. Curial information which it publishes such as Federal Tenders were last published in 2008. Federal Executive Council approved projects were last published in 2015, and certificates of no objections were published 2015.
