Panic and confusion have gripped officials at the Code of Conduct Bureau after records relating to the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu’s asset declaration suddenly disappeared from the storage facility that has held them for years.
The disappearance of the case file might frustrate corruption investigation into Tinubu’s asset by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
It was gathered that the CCB started looking for Tinubu’s asset filings after the EFCC requested copies as part of an ongoing investigation into the former Lagos governor’s financial and material possessions.
According to Peoples Gazette, this has heralded the latest in desperate larcenies of incriminating documents that have been the lifeblood of Nigerian politics for decades.
The disappearance could frustrate ongoing corruption investigation into Tinubu’s asset by the EFCC, Nigeria’s frontline anti-corruption outfit, which has apparently ignored the embattled politician’s political ties to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Three officials familiar with the matter disclosed that the bureau started looking for Tinubu’s asset filings after the EFCC requested copies as part of an ongoing investigation into the former Lagos governor’s financial and material possessions.
Several offices have been rummaged at the bureau as officials scrambled to produce the documents for EFCC’s use — all to a dead end.
“We have searched for the case file everywhere because we want to comply with the lawful request made by the EFCC.
“We have not been able to find the documents either at the main head office or the annexe office in Asokoro,” a top management official at the bureau told our reporter.
Another official who interacted with one of the mid-level staffers tasked with finding the documents told the Gazette the matter had become “terribly embarrassing” and a cause for unending worry at the bureau, which is the primary anti-corruption agency in charge of collecting and keep assets of schedule government officials before and after assumption of office.
“We cannot find the asset documents at all. We cannot even find photocopies that we can certify for the EFCC,” the official said.
Tinubu was the governor of Lagos from 1999-2007. Officials said he declared his asset when he assumed office and when he concluded his second term in May 2007.
Anti-graft agencies had previously investigated and charged Tinubu on the basis of the documents in 2011, but the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which primarily hears cases brought by the bureau, dismissed the matter on technical grounds, leaving the merit of the case floating for nearly a decade.
No further charges had been preferred against the ruling party chief ever since. But as he prepares to seek Nigeria’s presidency in 2023, anti-corruption officials said they’re now convinced by “institutional memory” that Tinubu’s asset filings were incriminating and must revisit the matter to prevent “another rogue” from assuming power in a country still reeling from decades of infamy.
“His asset declaration form will not be the only reason for us to arrest and charge him. But our detectives and lawyers working on the case said it is likely to be seriously incriminating,” an EFCC official said under anonymity over the weekend.
Although the EFCC has yet to escalate the disappearance of Tinubu’s asset filings to the presidency, concerns have nonetheless been flaring amongst top officials of the CCB, an official said. While some officials believed the document might have been stolen by an intruder, others blamed “an inside job” for the development, citing its security.
“Tinubu’s file is one of the VVIP files that is kept with either the chairman or someone he trusts immensely,” an official said. “So claiming that it was stolen from an outsider at the time the EFCC is requesting for it is just so convenient.”
The official said an internal investigation has yet to commence about the disappearance, but the EFCC might be forced to report the CCB, which is a department under the federal cabinet secretary’s office.
“We don’t know how many palms have been oiled to make a sensitive document disappeared from our vault,” the CCB chief said. “We are not going to blame Tinubu for it because he did not come in here to snatch it from us, some people were used.”
Recall that the EFCC in November 2020 asked CCB to share the details of Tinubu’s asset documents as part of an ongoing probe of the APC chieftain
The letter marked: CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322, dated November 6, 2020, was signed by the then Lagos zonal head, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who is now the Chairman of the EFCC.
In the letter by the EFCC, the commission had said, “In view of the above, you are kindly requested to furnish the commission with the outstanding requested information of Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu.
“This request is made pursuant to Section 38(1) and (2) of the EFCC Act 2004.”
However, a senior EFCC official confirmed the letter’s authenticity, adding that it was part of a broader probe.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the probe was a sequel to some petitions written against Tinubu since 2018, which Magu had failed to act on.
The source said, “The letter is authentic. The EFCC receives several petitions against Tinubu, including one involving alleged fraud in Alpha Beta Consulting.”
Reacting, Tinubu had said he has not received any letter from the CCB seeking his asset declaration form.
The media aide to the former governor, Tunde Rahman, said the EFCC has also not invited Tinubu for any questioning.
He said he has no knowledge about such a letter, adding that any details about such a letter if it was indeed written, were with the CCB, and not with his principal.
“All the reports say that the EFCC wrote a letter to the CCB, seeking information about Asiwaju’s declaration form. Why don’t you contact the CCB if any such letter was written to us? I don’t know; I don’t have any reaction to that. Contact the CCB if the letter was written to them,” he said.
