By Danlami Nmodu
(EXCLUSIVE) Even as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,PDP struggles with post election trauma after it was defeated by the All Progressives Congress, more reports are emerging indicating that some managers of federal institutions may have used the election as a cover to defraud the government.
A clear case in point is that of Mr Mike Okiro, former Inspector General of Police and incumbent chairman of Police Service Commission who has been accused of election related scam in which he allegedly swindled the commission of over N275 million, according to a staff.A petition already with anti graft agencies accused the retired Inspector General of Police of inflating the staff strength of the commission to justify a fraudulent act.
Undoubtedly, the days ahead will be full of troubles for Okiro as a staff of the Commission has written a petition to some anti-corruption agencies accusing the chairman of fraud.Newsdiaryonline learnt that a Mr. Aaron Kaase, a principal Admin officer(press and public Relations ) of the police service Commission has written and submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission ,ICPC.A copy of the petition against Okiro submitted and acknowledged today (Friday May 22nd ) by the EFCC was obtained by Newsdiaryonline .
It’s titled: “Petition against sir(Dr )n Mike Mbama Okiro,Chairman ,Police Service Commission for Corruption,Abuse and Fraudulent Act To Swindle The Police Service Commission To the Tune of N275,525,000(Two Hundred And Twnty Five Million,Five Hundred And Twenty Five Thousand Naira Only”.
In the opening paragraph, the petitioner said “Iam Aaron Kaase, a Principal Admin Officer(Press and Public Relations Unit)of Police Service Commission.
“This petition is based on my findings and concerns as a citizen of Nigeria and a staff f the Police Service Commssion,whose Civic Responsibility amongst others includes fighting corruption in our society.”
Presenting what he said were the facts to justify his petition against the Commission’s chairman,Mr Kaase said “ As a build up to the 2015 General Elections,the Police Service Commission relying on provisions of its establishment Act,sought for and obtained the sum of N350,000,000.00(Three Hundred and Fifty Million )Naira only from the National Security Adviser(NSA) purportedly to train her (sic) staff in Monitoring the conduct of The Nigeria Police in the concluded General Election”
“With the funds in hand of the Commission , (and) as statutorily required , the Commission sought for approval to use same vide two letters to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP)with RefNo.PSC:1499/VOL/111/138 dated March 12 and received on March 19,2015;the Commission requested for the issuance of “No objection” to adopt selective tendering Method for the training of Commission staff on Monitoring of Police conduct during the 2015 general elections.
“In the said letters,the Chairman of the Commission Sir Mike Okiro fraudulently and knowingly claimed that the training programme(s) were in three(3) separate lots to be carried out in (a)Abuja (for headquarters staff) for 500 participants;(b)Kano(out station staff)200 participants and (c)Lot (3) for 200 staff participants in Lagos.
According to the petition “The Chairman of the Commission quoted the prices for the training as follows(1) Abuja(Abuja staff) 500 participants,awarded to Bobec &Associates at –N95,525,000.00(N95,255,000 Million) ;(ii)Kano staff(200 participants) awarded to Direct Knowledge Consult limited at=N95,000,000(N95Million) and (iii) Lagos staff,200participants awarded to Tzone Communications Ltd at-N85,000,000(N85Million)”
The petitioner made further revelations which exposed the fraud in Okiro’s deal .According to him, “It is however a verifiable fact that the entire Police Service Commissions staff are not up to 400.
“It is also a fact that the Commission has no office in Lagos and the entire South West
“It is also a fact that the Commission has less than 10 members of staff in Kano
“It is a miracle that the Chairman would claim the Commission has almost a thousand staff”
Kaase in the petition ,also further accused commission’s chairman of fraudulently deceiving the Bureau of Public Procurement,BPP to obtain an approval for his scam.He said “I want to state here categorically that the Chairman of the Commission fraudulently deceived the Bureau of Public Procurement(BPP) to obtain approval dated March 23,2015 with reference N.BPP/S.I/15/VOL.1/050 to carry out the fraud.”
The petitioner further argued that “instead of public bidding by the Commission decided to award the contract to his girlfriend (name withheld)
“That instead of the four day approval granted by the Bureau of Public Procurement,a mock training of 2 hours was conducted at Northgate Hotels Limited,Mararaba Nasarawa State ,instead of Kano state.
He asserted that Bobec & Associates -(run by) a known friend (name withheld) that grounded BEN House ,an agency of Benue state government -which was listed to conduct the exercise in Abuja, hurriedly put together a 2 hour training in Oasis Hotel in Mararaba,Nasarawa state.
“Mr Okiro has failed to refund money granted for the other 3 days in his request letter.”
He also alleged “That Mr.Okiro has severally collected money from the Police Service Commission under the pretext of travelling abroad for official duties without doing so”
In the petition, names of several aides to the chairman and the amounts of money they collected for their boss were listed. It was further alleged that “Mr.Okiro also collected the sum of N4.6 Million as first class ticket to travel to the U.S in 2013 without doing so”.
Kaase wrote that “You can crosscheck his international Passport to ascertain this and PSC account books”.He also noted that in utter disregard to an official circular,Okiro has used an aide dubbed as SA media to “make frivolous claims in the name of media settlements, facts which are contained in the Commission’s account books”.
The petitioner stated clearly that he was aware of the risk he had taken by serving as a whistleblower. ”That I know as fact that the Chairman will viciously fight ,as no one fights corruption and goes unscathed.Iam ready to pay the supreme price if need be”
“I can assure you the Commission has become a cesspool (of corruption) as a scratch will certainly unveil more”.
He also alleged that Okiro’s fraudulent acts were worse than those of Chief Bode George, a PDP chieftain who was “prosecuted for a mere contract splitting”.
Kaase assured the anti graft agencies that he would be available to give further information. “Iam very much available for further information and to buttress my assertion with the required documents as I neither use a pseudo name nor a fictitious name and will not rest till these people are brought to book”
Newsdiaryonline contacted the spokesman of the Police Service Commission ,Mr Ikechukwu Ani who pointedly said that to the best of his knowledge ,there was no expenditure by the commission on training for election monitoring.
“There is no such expenditure on the training of the commission’s staff for election monitoring”he told Newsdiaryonline.
When he was told that there was evidence from BPP mentioned in the petition showing that the chairman sought and got procurement approval for the training programme, the spokesman of Police Service Commission said, “on others Iam not aware”.