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Whistleblowers are the first line of defence against corruption, crime and cover-ups, according to a 2019 paper by the All–Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on whistleblowing in the UK.
For Sambo Abdullahi, head of internal audit at the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, it has been one long tortuous journey. Over the past two years, he has been at the receiving end of the retaliation whistleblowers around the world, including in Nigeria, face for shining the light on malfeasance around them: denial of wages, job losses, expensive court cases, abuse, psychological trauma, blacklisting across their sector, and sometimes death.
Abdullahi has been denied his salary and other allowances since December 2017, threatened, blacklisted, arrested and sued. All of this for acting professionally and responding patriotically to the call of the Nigerian government asking citizens to join the fight against corruption by blowing the whistle on corrupt practices and other forms of wrongdoing in the country.
In two separate courts, in Ifo, Ogun State, and Okitipupa, Ondo State, where in a most brazen abuse of judicial process, Abdullahi was summoned to answer charges of defamation levelled against him by his boss, Dr. Marilyn Amobi, Managing Director of NBET, he easily walked through the doorway of victory. Both cases were struck out on account of Dr. Amobi’s lack of seriousness in prosecuting.
The crisis of corruption in NBET has been going on for almost three years and the government appears not to have any solution. The appointment of Dr Amobi as the second substantive MD/CEO of NBET signified doom not only for Abdullahi as head of internal audit but also for the entire staff of the company. The MD withheld Abdullahi’s salary and other emoluments just because he exercised the right to decline participation in her fraudulent activities and rejected an unwarranted deployment to a new department unilaterally created by the MD to continue to perpetrate fraud.
Abdullahi, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), graduated in Accounting from a reputable university and has over two decades of experience. He acquired experiences from both the private and public sectors before joining NBET. He was the pioneer Head of Internal Audit of NBET in 2012; a position he held till 2016 when Dr Amobi joined the company.
Within one month of Dr. Amobi’s assumption of office, Abdullahi discovered the illegal over-payment of N2 billion to two generating plants, Omotosho Power Plc and Olorunsogo Power Plc, both of which have no Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) and Gas Transportation Agreement (GTA) as required by industry agreement. The implication of this fraudulent transaction is that electricity consumers on a monthly basis pay N2billion in excess of what they ought to have paid if this fraud is averted. It is on record that the very first month the fraud was detected, Dr Amobi assumed the role of internal auditor by signing off the payment vouchers.
Her defence for this unlawful violation was that the mandatory GSA and GTA had been waived. The questions for her are, who approved the waiver? Why was the waiver not extended to other thermal plants? And why did the waiver idea come only after the head of internal audit had uncovered the fraud?
Other transactions that made Abdullahi to incur the wrath of Dr. Amobi was his refusal to endorse other payment vouchers for illegal procurement of alcohol using taxpayers’ money, proposed monthly payment of N2.5million to one Engr. Achinaya (an ex-staff of both NEPA and PHCN) without procurement process, procurement of legal advisory services of Azinge & Azinge and Aelex law firms in gross violation of the Procurement Act, and payment for return flight ticket from London for Dr Amobi to resume work in NBET in violation of the NBET Board-approved benefit compensation packages just to mention a few.
As a retaliation against Abdullahi for doing his job professionally, which to Dr Amobi connotes standing in her way, she colluded with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to get rid of Abdullahi and his colleague Waziri Bintube. Both were removed from their duly appointed and NBET Board- approved functions as head of internal audit and Chief Finance Officer respectively. While Abdullahi’s salary was stopped, Bintube was sacked.
In response, the duo wrote a petition to the Ministry of Power in 2017. The ministerial committee report was released in March 2018 and vindicated them, while indicting Dr. Amobi. But despite the minister’s (Babatunde Fashola) directives that Abdullahi’s salary should be restored and Bintube reinstated immediately, and in fact that both workers should enjoy the rights of NBET staff, Dr. Amobi refused to comply with the directives.
Till date, she denies Abdullahi his salaries and Bintube has not been called back. Dr. Amobi heads a government agency supervised by a Ministry, but her insolent defiance of a Ministerial order is unprecedented in the history of public sector administration in Nigeria. And it is strange that this is happening under a government that claims to prioritize due process and accountability in the public sector.
As if the stoppage of salaries and sacking were not enough, Dr Amobi got Abdullahi and Bintube detained in the facility of the State Security Services (SSS) for more than twenty-four hours. Several directives by Babatunde Fashola, then Minister of Power, were rebuffed by Dr Amobi who insisted that as an appointee of President Muhammadu Buhari she would only take directives from the president.
While the issue of salary suspension remained unresolved in spite of interventions from the Ministry of Power, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the office of the Vice President, among others, Abdullahi approached the National Industrial Court in December 2018, twelve months after the unlawful stoppage of his salaries, with Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Dr Marilyn Amobi (MD/CEO), Hon Minister of Power and the Ministry of Power as defendants.
On March 11, 2020, Abdullahi (the claimant) once again walked the path of victory with the court delivering judgement in his favour. According to Hon Justice O. O. Oyewumi, the act of the suspension of the claimant’s salaries from December 2017 till date was wrongful; the denial of the claimant’s 2017 and 2018 leave was wrongful; the 1st and 2nd defendants, contrary to its terms and conditions of service, withheld the claimant’s salary and other emoluments wrongfully. The judge ordered the payment of Abdullahi’s salaries and other allowances, noting, “All sums awarded in the judgement is to be paid within 30days of the judgement, failure upon which it attracts 21% interest thereon per annum.”
While the case lasted in court, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Auditor General of the Federation and the Bureau of Public Procurement all issued reports indicting Dr Amobi while recommending her immediate prosecution. Sadly, some higher powers are preventing this from happening.
Governance problems are commonly found in federal government agencies due to either lack of a Board or total collapse of the governance structure. The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Alex Akoh, noted in a letter to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, dated January 7, 2020, that “for the past 14 months, no Board meeting of the company (NBET) was held, a situation which has serious consequences on the corporate governance of the company”. Truth is, no Board meeting of NBET has held since August 2018 when Professor Yemi Osinbajo, then Acting President, ratified the reconstitution of the NBET Board of Directors recommended by Kemi Adeosun, the immediate past Minister of Finance.
The governance collapse in NBET has entrusted the fate of about 80 million electricity consumers in Nigeria in the hands of Dr Amobi who sees herself as not only untouchable, but also a sort of “Alfa and Omega.” She formulates and executes policies at will, such as changing the company organogram whenever she sees any staff as standing in her way. The entire senior management has passed a vote of no confidence in Dr Amobi but despite this and other fraudulent activities traceable to her, no action was taken by the government to ameliorate the problem in the power sector and curb the continuous fraud being perpetrated in NBET.
The Minister of Power of Power Engr. Sale Mamman, in December 2019, made a daring move to respond to the situation by suspending Dr. Amobi from office indefinitely. But curiously, he was overruled by President Muhammadu Buhari in less than two weeks and Dr. Amobi was returned to office.
This forced the Minister to fire a letter dated January 8, 2020, to Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, detailing investigations by the ICPC, EFCC and the reports of the Auditor General of the Federation which implicated the NBET boss “for breach of due process in the award of contracts and several financial wrongdoings.” In that letter copied to President Buhari, the Minister reminded the SGF of “the additional baggage which the suspended MD carries in the light of the anti-corruption stance of the Federal Government.”
If this government wants to be seen as genuinely fighting corruption, the NBET case is a golden opportunity to faithfully demonstrate that conviction. Dr. Amobi has been indicted for corruption by government anti-corruption agencies. The place for her, therefore, is the courtroom, not a cushioned seat of a government agency.
Meanwhile, before Dr. Amobi’s prosecution, government should direct her to obey without delay the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in the suit filed by a whistleblower, Sambo Abdullahi, the head of internal audit of NBET.
In addition, government should realize that all whistleblowers deserve full and effective protection from all kinds of retaliation, without which its whistleblowing policy will not succeed as an instrument for reducing corruption in the country.
Onumah and Onyeacholem are with the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL)
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A follower on Twitter asked me on Saturday whether it is “constitutional” for the government to restrict religious and social gatherings because of Coronavirus?
By virtue of Section 45 of the 1999 constitution, the rights to peaceful assembly and free movement can be interfered with in the interest of public health and public safety. Is Coronavirus a threat to public health and public safety? The answer is obviously in the affirmative.
Section 14 (2)(b) of the constitution states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
However, I urge President Buhari to declare a state of emergency throughout the federation in line with Section 305 of the constitution.
Section 305 (3)(d) of the constitution, allows for a state of emergency when “there is clear & present danger of breakdown of public order and public safety in the federation or any part thereof requiring extraordinary measures to avert such danger.” COVID-19 is a clear and present danger to public safety.
Unlike in the United States, States in Nigeria cannot declare emergency. A governor supported by 2/3 members of the House of Assembly can only request the president to do so for them as stated in Section 305 (4) of the constitution. This is an example of the fraudulent nature of our federalism.
Since there is no special law to my knowledge, apart from laws establishing national and States emergency management agencies, to address public health crisis, it is necessary for the President to declare a state of emergency in Nigeria to address the outbreak of Coronavirus.
In the absence of a law enabling these restrictions to social and religious gatherings, the legality of these measures is questionable. This is because fundamental rights cannot be derogated from except as prescribed in a law that is “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”
It is either a law is urgently enacted across the volatile states or the President invokes the state of emergency clause. As at today, there is no strong legal basis for restricting gatherings. None of the governors or the President has issued even an ordinary ‘Executive Order’.
In the United States for example where we copied our presidential system, President Trump declared a national emergency, and at least 48 States in the US have also declared emergency due to COVID-19. The American Congress also passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
In Nigeria, we are resorting to our usual militaristic way of doing things by relying on arbitrary executive fiat to tackle COVID-19. Nations do not become great just by the “good intentions” of politicians. Nations become great principally by adhering to the rule of law.
In the light of the foregoing, I strongly urge the federal and state governments to urgently take steps to address the apparent legal loopholes in their efforts to tackle Coronavirus. It is obvious that Nigeria is not prepared for an outbreak. We are doing trial and error.
We need a legal framework; not only to give legal backing to the restrictions on the fundamental rights of Nigerians to religion, association, assembly, movement, etc., but to also provide for reliefs for families and victims of COVID-19.
We should not wait for the worst to happen.
I wish to draw the attention of the government to the decision of the Court of Appeal in the celebrated case of Okafor v. Lagos State Government (2017) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1556) 404 where it was held that disobeying the “order” or “directive” of a governor is not a criminal offence.
In that case, Lagos State issued an order restricting movement during environmental sanitation, Okafor was arrested for disobeying the order. The court declared the arrest illegal and unconstitutional since there was no law that criminalized violation of the governor’s order.
Without a law or a state of emergency, it is illegal to arrest anyone for violating a mere executive order. Emotions cannot change the law. If religious leaders whose places of worship have been closed decide to challenge the closure in court, the government will likely lose.
I hope the government at all levels will listen to the voice of reason and initiate appropriate legal frameworks to support the containment of COVID-19. It is either we are a country of laws or a banana republic.
We should not yield to authoritarian rule because of expediency.
Inibehe Effiong is a Lagos-based legal practitioner and human rights activist
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It appears Google is preparing to roll out a new file sharing feature when it unveils Android 11 later this spring.
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In this recent webcast, Rich Powers, head of ETF Product Management and Tim Holmes, head of Equities, ETFs, and Options Trading for individual investors, will help to demystify and simplify ETFs and answer your questions.
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It could be argued that scientists create superpowers in their labs. If Aram Galstyan, director of the Artificial Intelligence Division at the USC Viterbi Information Sciences Institute (ISI) had to pick just one superpower, it would be the ability to predict the future. What will be the daily closing price of Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at the end of next week? How many 6.0 or stronger earthquakes will occur worldwide next month? Galstyan and a team of researchers at USC ISI are building a system to answer such questions.
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After your organization forms a general plan for tackling its cybersecurity and privacy risk management issues, it needs particular state-of-the-art tools to make that plan a reality. Computer security and privacy experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have the answer with an updated toolbox of safeguards for protecting an organization’s operations and assets, as well as the personal privacy of individuals.
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PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has declared that Malaysia will be placed under a nationwide movement restriction order from Wednesday (March 18) to March 31, 2020, due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The order, the first in the country’s history, was announced by the prime minister in a live broadcast over national television tonight.
A total of 315 new positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported over the past two days, bringing the total in Malaysia to 553 cases.
Of this total, 511 have been hospitalised while 42 people have recovered.
Muhyiddin said the nationwide movement restriction order means that all business premises have to be shut down, except for outlets such as supermarkets and grocery stores selling daily essentials.
He said all government and private premises would be closed, except for essential services such as utilities, telecommunications, transport, banking, health, pharmacies, ports, airports, cleaning and food supplies.
He said the movement restriction also means all Malaysians will be banned from travelling abroad, and that no tourists or foreigners will be allowed to enter the country. Those who have just arrived from abroad must undergo self-quarantine for 14 days.
All public and private schools, including kindergartens, nurseries, residential school and other educational institutions are also to close. All private and public higher institutions of learning will also close.
Closure of all government and private premises except essential services such as water and electricity, telecommunication, postal service, transport, fuel, gas, lubrication, broadcasting, banking, health, pharmacy, fire-fighting, ports, airports, prisons, security and defence, sanitary services, provision and food supply.
The order also calls on a ban on all mass gatherings, including religious, sports, social and cultural activities.
The Prime Minister said the measures were taken to protect the rakyat from the spread of the virus but advised Malaysian to not panic and stay calm.
Muhyiddin added that the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs will ensure that the supply of groceries and health care essentials will be readily available.
He also said that the government will address the situation daily and provided a hotline number – 0388882010- that will answer any queries from the public.
In an immediate response, former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad told theSun that the order was the right action made in the right time.
“I am okay with it because it is in line with what I was advocating, I did not implement this earlier because at that time it wasn’t warranted and it wasn’t the right thing to do then,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdullah said that the provision of Section 11 (5) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 is read together with Section 24(a) of the same act.
Haniff said this would make any breach to the restriction order a criminal offence.
“The offense under section 11(5) carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment. Whereas the second offence under section 24(b) warrants a maximum imprisonment sentence of five years.”
He also urged government officials to give a clear guideline on the extent of which a member of public can be out before it is considered an offense.
“This is to ensure proper and dutiful compliance on the part of public and to allow strict enforcement by the authorities.” he told theSun.
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