PAP: Attack on lawyer’s residence, plot to frustrate ₦3.8b unexecuted Amnesty contract suit—Group
The lawyer’s
home was attacked by armed men in the Kubwa
extension II area of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, last week Wednesday.
According to the group, the targeted lawyer, is representing the 124 beneficiaries of PAP in court, where they
had asked the court to be joined in stopping the illegal payment of over
₦3.8billion to 15 Companies over alleged unexecuted contracts.
The attack on the residence of the lawyer in
Kubwa extension II area of the Federal Capital Territory, left one
security guard dead and three others injured.
REF, in a petition to President Muhammadu
Buhari, the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.), the
Department of State Security, DSS, and the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Usman
Alkali, alleged that despite the fact that targeted lawyer survived due to
his attendance at the last Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, conference
in Lagos, the attempt was condemnable and should be investigated.
The 124 amnesty beneficiaries
had applied to be joined in the suit by Jacob Momoh and 15 contracting firms
against PAP, to pay for an alleged unexecuted contract above the tune of
₦3.8billion, plus 21 percent post–judgment fees, and special damages which can
go as high as ₦5billion to ₦8billion.
REF, in the petitions by its National
Coordinator, former General Tony Ebikalaide also known as “Black Spider” in
Yenagoa, Bayelsa State,
said: “The lawyer had in a few days prior to the day of
the incident spotted a black Range Rover tailing him and had received a phone
call from the petitioner’s legal team to ascertain his whereabouts for
service, but events turned for the worst during the early hours of the morning,
on August 24, 2022. Alleged hired assassins wearing face masks stormed the secured
residence of the lawyer in a community in Kubwa, F.C.T. Abuja and neutralized
four security guards with one dead, three in critical condition.
"But despite the resistance, they
refused to retreat, rather they forced their way into the secured building and
broke-down the front door of the lawyer’s home while shouting ‘where is
the lawyer? where is the Barrister?’ The scared lawyer’s wife was home alone
because the Barrister was still in Lagos after the NBA conference, but when
they could not find the lawyer, they took a few items worth less than ₦10,000 to
make it look like a rubbery, and with the increasing noise outside, they
hurriedly departed the premises.
“In the seven years of his living in that community, and in their
secured building, that was the first time in that community that such a tragedy
had occurred, and it’s not a coincidence that his compound, especially his
house in particular was attacked. He said he has neighbours all
around his building, and there are multiple bigger homes and compounds without
any fence or security barriers before getting to his compound and building. But
they chose his building and house in particular while shouting “where is the
lawyer, where is the Barrister” to his scared wife who was home alone.
“it was on that same day in the evening, that Prof. Charles Dokubo,
the former Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, died. It might
interest the general public to know that the lawyer representing the 124 amnesty
beneficiaries against the ₦3.8billion suit in alleged unexecuted amnesty
contracts had planned to subpoena Prof. Dokubo to testify in court on how he
signed and awarded the multi-billion naira contract to the plaintiffs without
passing through due process and using doctored documents. Well, it is
unfortunate that Prof. Dokubo will not be able to speak about these approvals
anymore.”
The REF also accused the staff of the
Federal Ministry of Justice of alleged suspicion of compromise to frustrate the
suit filed by the ex-militant leaders to prevent the illegal payment for
unexecuted contracts above the tune of ₦3.8billion, plus 21 percent
post–judgment fees, and special damages which can go as high as ₦5billion to ₦8billion.
“The officials in the judiciary are busy
sabotaging the Amnesty Office’s efforts in court by redeploying experienced legal officers
from the Amnesty Office in order to deprive the Amnesty Office from putting in
proper representation in court.
"At present, the Presidential Amnesty
Programme, such a delicate Federal Government intervention
agency, has no Legal Adviser nor any experienced legal officer at a time when
there are pending cases worth billions of naira that could bankrupt the PAP. While
the legal team of the 124 amnesty beneficiaries are submitting genuine
documents in court to defend the cases, the plaintiffs are boasting of
compromising officials in the Ministry of Justice and
anti-corruption agencies, detailing their non-remittance of Pension Funds of
over 200 amnesty consultants in over two years.
"In a previous petition submitted to
the EFCC, the petitioners stated with documentpry evidence of alleged
suspension of payments into the Retirement Savings Accounts of the consultants
even though the 18 percent deductions were deducted from the consultants salaries. The result
of these inglorious acts amounts to a breach of the Pension Act 2004 cited
above, with dire consequences. The EFCC refused to act despite the consultants'
Pension funds non-remittance documents submitted to them.
"These conspirators have refused to
leave our amnesty business alone for us. They conspired in a failed
assassination attempt to assassinate a peaceful lawyer that is doing his legal
job by representing amnesty beneficiaries in court because they intend to sabotage the
case and put fear in people. These conspirators think that they are powerful
because they have security officials running around them temporarily which will
expire soon, they will hear from us and they will know that we are
ex-militants, because this armature game that they are playing, is our
full-time business with multiple years of experience,” the ex-militants added.
Comments
Post a Comment