How Shekarau Operates His Foreign Bank Accounts

By

Jaafar Jaafar

jafsmohd@yahoo.com

 

I pity Governor Shekarau of Kano State who is in the thorniest times of his life – he has never been in these trying times. It is against my wish to ruffle the feathers of a sick bird but the issues at stake nudge my fingers to grab the hen (sorry pen). There is need to raise some salient questions regarding the whereabouts of our huge financial resources since the coming this administration. The prevailing theft of our common heritage under the guise of religion is traceable to our dilapidated infrastructure. But you would wonder, as many certainly would, why ever all these happen to Governor Shekarau? Are all the allegations simply fabricated to tarnish his image? Why Shekarau, our very own governor-cum-preacher? Why the self-acclaimed “saint” not sinners? If these questions linger around your mind, the only solution is for you to understand him well, whereupon you find the answer.

 

When I first wrote a detailed story about Shekarau’s foreign accounts, I was inundated with text messages, calls and mails from many readers. I have responded to some readers who reacted wisely but denied response to those that reacted uncouthly. I did also argue myself out particularly when I sparred with the former governor of Kano State , Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi in his residence during the last Ramadan. Though he had some misgivings initially, but before the end of the two-hour chat, shaking his head slowly in disappointment, the astute politician couldn’t help but agree with me. Given our eventual vindication, we cannot but thank EFCC for getting to the root of the matter. The commission says, among other offences, that Governor Shekarau’s name appeared in the EFCC list because he operates foreign accounts – an offence contrary to the laws of the land.

 

Before you quench your thirst with the following, perhaps, refreshing piece, I need to first refresh your memory by referring back to the first article, The Story of Shekarau’s Foreign Accounts, in which I wrote “…one M.I. Shekarau, a Nigerian, has a classified National Westminster Bank Plc account with a whopping deposit of £4,512,269.59 with the account number: 4113242. National Westminster Bank Plc is at Level 7 Phase 2, Pentioville Road , London , N1 9h1, England . (Ibid) The same masquerade who calls himself M.I Shekarau also operates a classified account at National Commercial Bank Plc., Head office Jeddah , Saudi Arabia with the equally whopping deposit of 2,214,905.67 Riyals. The account number is 9600438 and National Commercial Bank is located at Jeddah 21481, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .

Aside the aforesaid, in the new petition (a copy of which this writer was served) that threw Governor Shekarau into this godforsaken list where only corrupt politicians are seen, the attention of the EFCC was drawn to the clandestine moves of transfering “some of the stolen funds” to some Asian countries by the governor where, according to the petition, Shekarau “considers safe heaven (sic).” A huge deposit of £3,112,201.50 (some part of £4,512,26.59) earlier deposited at the National Westminster Bank, the petition says, was transferred to the National Comm. Bank Plc., El-Giya, Egypt where the searchlights of the international anti-corruption watchdogs are rarely beamed. The account number is: 002-7154-015.

 

Governor Shekarau, the petition says, has also withdrawn $3,422,269.45 and ferried to Deutsch Bank, AG Seoul branch, 521 Seoul South Korea . As said in the petition, another deposit of M.I. Shekarau in an account in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now been diverted to Hong Kong West Bank, Hong Kong . The account has a whopping deposit of 1,489,332.40 Hong Kong dollars.

 

The petitioners did not only dig out Governor Shekarau’s accounts, they have also unearthed the purchase by M.I. Shekarau of six-bedroom-flat residential building in Orleans, a highbrow area of Paris, from an agent called Mr Guy Sauvanet, at the cost of 25,000,000 CFA, which is equivalent to about 18 million dollars, and the transaction took place on the 29th July, 2006, the petitioners stated. Its is very amazing to know that the governor has, in almost all the accounts, deployed his usual masquerading tactics by changing his name from M.I. Shekarau to Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, the petition claimed.

 

Other deposits reported in the new petition are: £5,000,000 “of public funds” he has criminally diverted into his personal account, bearing the account No. 002-964-5890, with City Bank House London WC2RIHB, UK . The next was a huge deposit of 80,000,000 CFA (about eighteen million US dollars) with BIAO AFRIBANK, 9 Avenue de Messine 75008, Paris.

This same person that loved to be called Malam but defiled his mallamness by dipping his soiled paws into cookie jar has also loaded public funds to the tune of $12,500,000 it into his personal account with CITI Bank EM/FI; 111 Wall Street, 19th Floor, New York NY10043 USA. This transaction, the petition says, had taken place during one of the governor’s visits to US last year.

 

But the height of this gubernatorial heist, I would paraphrase the petition, takes an especial distinction when the governor tells Kano people ad nauseum that he was visiting Malaysia to woo investors, little did the gaping masses know that the governor’s principal interest was to purchase a complete electronics factory named AL-DUN Electronics Company, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The agent for the transaction was FIRSUP Co. who facilitated the payments in two installments on the 29th November 2006 and 20th December 2006 respectively.

 

Other allegations not contained in the petition are the purchase of 6 million units of shares (sold at 13.50 kobo) at Intercontinental Bank where his son works, and sharing of about 400 million to top All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) officials to ratify his contest. What is baffling to many is that where would he take all the money to when our state records the highest infant mortality rate, our taps are dry, schools lacks chairs (given the state of the education in the state, Shekarau had to evacuate his son who failed WAEC from this ruin we call “government schools” to American University, Dubai). What would he do with this huge amount in this transient world?

 

The only rebuttal Shekarau could proffer was that “whoever claims that I own properties, I dash him.” But Shekarau should know that by default or by design, he has exposed the truth himself. It is a fact that one cannot give what he doesn’t possess. After all, bank accounts or landed properties are not like groundnuts that you can give without certificate. He should give us the certificates and we want the properties.

 

In the earlier article, I have tasked the Chairman of the EFCC to investigate this bunch of allegations. “…it is yet another burden on the EFCC’s shoulders,” I wrote, “ Kano people eagerly await their actions since they have not, perhaps, drawn a blank…” I am happy that Ribadu has done a good job by nabbing these avaricious sinners who have masqueraded as saints to siphon public funds. Sources close to EFCC said that the final remark of the chairman of the commission, Nuhu Ribadu, on Shekarau’s case was that “he (Shekarau) loots more than Alamiseigha and he forges certificate like a fraudster.”

 

Jaafar Jaafar  resides at No 319 Warshu Hospital Road Kawaji, Kano .