The bank accounts of suspects being tried in court over
allegations of corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) and whose names appear on the looters list released by the Federal
government earlier this year, have been allegedly frozen on the orders of the
Federal government. This is according to a report by TheCable.
The embargo placed on the accounts is part of the
implementation of the Executive Order No. 6 on the “preservation of suspicious
assets connected with corruption and other relevant offences” signed by
President Buhari in October 2018.
A former Minister who confirmed this development, said he
tried to withdraw money from his account recently but couldn't.
“I issued a cheque of N250,000 to a friend and it was turned
down. When I called my account officer, he invited me for a meeting, where I
was told there is a ‘post no debit’ instruction on all my accounts because of
the executive order. They told me I am not the only one affected. All persons
undergoing trial are affected.” a former Minister whose name is on the looters
list told TheCable
Recall that on Tuesday November 27th, former PDP
spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, told a court in Abuja that he has not been able to
access his account as the EFCC has placed an embargo on it. Metuh is among the
list of Nigerians on the looters list.
On March 30th, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed,
released the looters list following a challenge from Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman
of the PDP.
“The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their
watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that
the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet they decided to grandstand.
This shows the hollowness of their apology. This list is just a tip of the
iceberg, and the PDP is aware of this. We did not make these cases up. Many of
these cases are in court and the records are available.” Lai Mohammed had said
shortly after releasing the list
Among those listed were Sambo Dasuki, former national
security adviser; Dieziani Alison-Madukwe, former minister of petroleum
resources; Kenneth Minimah, former chief of army staff; Alex Badeh, former
chief of defence staff; Inde Dikko, former comptroller-general of customs;
and Bala Mohammed, former minister of
the federal capital territory (FCT).
Others are Stella Oduah, a serving senator; Babangida Aliyu,
former Niger State governor; Jonah Jang, former Plateau governor; Nenadi Usman,
former minister of finance; Bashir Yuguda, former minister of state for
finance; Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation; Raymond Dokpesi,
founder of DAAR Communications and Uche Secondus, national chairman of the PDP.
