The die is cast and the water cannot hold level anymore. This is as new information available to 247ureports.com indicates cow dung may have hit the ceiling inside the federal ministry of education under the leadership of Malam Adamu Adamu. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] has begun the interrogation phase of their investigation of the education ministry.
According to information received, close associates and relatives of the senior minister of education have been invited to the EFCC for interrogation over the ongoing corrupt activities inside the ministry that run into the high billions of Naira.
The latest to be interrogated is the quarterback of all the corrupt activities – Mohammed Gambo Muazu – he is known to be highly corrupt and considered an integral player inside the Adamu Adamu corrupt empire. His specialty is procurement. He has held the office of Director of Procurement from the Goodluck Jonathan administration at the office of special duties – and later at the federal ministry of health during the ebola outbreak. Under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, he was returned to the position of director of procurement at the ministry of education by Adamu Adamu through the active lobbying of Adamu Adamu’s wife’s younger brother, Dauda.
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Mohammed Gambo Muazu throughout his career as a civil servant have displayed his penchant for corruption. While at the Ministry of Special Duties at the capacity of director of procurement, he supervised the award of shady contracts of which many are being actively prosecuted by the EFCC. At the conclusion of his service at the ministry of special services, he was picked up by the EFCC. Following the pickup, he was instructed to refund the sum of N150million to the coffers of the federal government – and to accept to act as a witness in the case against Goodluck Jonathan’s aide on Special Duties – Tanimu Turaki. Mohammed Gambo Muazu agreed. He refunded the N150million in three trances. The initial payment was N50million. He has since completed the payment. He is presently serving as a witness in the case.
On January 17, 2021, he made an appearance as a witness for the prosecutor of EFCC. At the witness box, he told the court that “sometime in 2014, an intervention project was brought to the Ministry of Special Duties to execute. It was agreed that some contracts will be given to members of the Ministry to execute.”. He further told the court that he was introduced to one Abdulrahman Yusuf, a bureau de change operator, by the then Permanent Secretary, Taiye Haruna and it was through Yusuf that some of the profit gotten from the contracts was changed to Dollars and then given to the then Permanent Secretary. During cross examination by Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN, the he told the court that he did not know if the money was refunded to the Federal government.
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The recent invitation by the EFCC of Adamu Adamu’s men shortly after a series of publications by 247ureports.com exposing the cesspool of corrupt activities under the leadership of Malam Adamu Adamu. [see publications at Exclusive: Adamu Adamu In Trouble As EFCC Makes Arrest, Opens Investigation On Education Ministry and How Minister Of Education, Adamu Adamu Uses Gangs Of Corrupt Aides To Swindle Education Ministry] – has raised new concerns for the minister.
It all comes on the heels of the release of the sacked vice chancellor of the federal university of Gusau in Zamfara State, Prof. Magaji Garba and his alleged accomplice, Aliyu Burga – who were both arrested by the EFCC following a petition to the EFCC against the duo on allegation of defrauding a contractor on the bases of a promised contract award by the Vice Chancellor. Both accused men spent about a few weeks inside the EFCC holding cell where they were interrogated. Our source reveals they reached a loose fitted understanding with agents of EFCC in exchange for sensitive information exposing more criminal activities at the ministry.
The Vice Chancellor [VC] who is a childhood friend of the minister was asked to refund N600million to the coffers of the federal government. But he was able to agree to refund N300million. The sum of N140milion was allegedly found at his home in Azare, Bauchi State by the agents of EFCC upon the arrest of the VC. The petitioner who alleged he was defrauded of N260million by the duo of Burga and Prof. Garba had asked for the EFCC to impress on Burga and Prof. Garba to refund him a portion of the money [N50million] in exchange for withdrawing his petition. 247ureports.com is not certain of the outcome of the negotiation but it is understood the EFCC activated a second petition from another contractor based in Kaduna against the Professor and Burga.
Meanwhile Aliyu Burga in his talks with the EFCC, briefed the investigators of the structure of corruption within the education ministry and the parastatals – with enhances on the Universal Basic Education Commission [UBEC], Tertiary Education Trust Fund [TETFUND], National Teachers Institute [NTI] and others. According to Burga, the practices at the federal university of Gusau in Zamfara was not in isolation to just one tertiary institution. He claimed it was widespread across the country. “That is how it is done in all the new universities, all 12 of them”.
The newly inaugurated universities – the ones that came to life during the Jonathan administration – serve as money conduits for the minister, his wife and close relatives. The major constructions at the schools are cornered by the minister through his men. For all of the approved contract at each of the universities, the minister will dispatch a list of companies to be awarded with the contracts. The VCs and heads of schools are to merely comply and do as directed. This is according to Burga’s briefing at the EFCC.
The federal university at Kashere in Gombe State offers a pitiful illustration of the corrupt activities elaborated by Burga to the EFCC. Documentary evidence obtained through sources within the ministry shows how companies and/or contractors fronting for the minister or his close relatives are escorted by the minister’s relatives to the director of procurement – Mohammed Gambo Aliyu – for the purposes of mopping up the contracts available at the federal university at Kashere in Gombe State.
247ureports.com uncovered eight [8] contracts executed by contractors acting as fronts for the minister and his relatives to the tuned of N2.046billion awarded between 2018 and 2020. Mohammed Gambo Muazu working in tandem with Dauda [the younger brother to the minister’s wife] placed themselves as clearing agents for the contracts executed at the federal university at Kashere in Gombe State using these companies:
QS & GS LTD – awarded contracted for construction of female students hostel for the sum of N242.5million – Ibrahim Umar signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 647248
QS & GS LTD – awarded contracted for the construction of 250 seater lecture hall for the sum of N140.7million – Ibrahim Umar signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 647248
Amal Engineering – awarded contract for furniture, equipment and external works for the sum of N119.3million – Alhaji Umar Ali signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 251888
Solids Builders [owner hails from Azare in Bauchi] – awarded contract for the construction of academic staff quarters for the sum of N332.1million – Muhammed Modi Adamu signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 39846
Spectrum Engineering – awarded contract for construction. Of school of post graduate studies for the sum of N224.8million – Saad Abubakar signed the contract on behalf of the company – Tin No. 09900782-0001
Konstead Nig LTD – awarded contract for construction of chancellery building for the sum of N438.2million
Tamusa Nig LTD – awarded contract for the construction of the library complex for the sum of N329.7million – Alhaji Jamilu Ahmed signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 738307
Tamalin Building Solutions – awarded contract for the construction of a 500 seater lecture theatre for the sum of 219.1million – Habu Aminu signed the contract on behalf of the company – RC No. 1288621
The above contracts were awarded during the period Professor Alhassan Muhammad Gani held sway as the Vice Chancellor. His tenure ended on February 11, 2021. He is presently lobbying to replace the outgoing Executive Secretary of TETFUND.
See documents below of award letters to preselected contractors by the minister’s men.
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Interestingly, as the axe of the ant-graft agency nears the minister’s gang and associates, heightened tension has overtaken the offices at the education ministry and at the presidency. In the brief interaction between the President [Buhari] and the Minister – a reliable source revealed that the President brought the attention of the minister to the 247ureports publication. Reacting, the minister promised to sue the medium. The President was said to brush the threat of lawsuit aside.
Meanwhile, the President’s confident and closest ally – Maman Daura – called the attention of the President to the finer details of the publication – while adding that other field reports confirm that the education minister has turned the ministry into a family business. He advised the President – knowing full well that the President shares a close friendship with the education minister. He advised him to allow the EFCC conduct their full investigation exhaustively – without interfering.
Stay tuned
