N40bn Loan Scam: Court Admits 16 Exhibits Against Former Speaker Bankole And His Deputy Nafada

An Abuja High Court sitting at Apo, yesterday, admitted 16 exhibits tendered against the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole, and his erstwhile deputy, Mr Usman Bayero Nafada, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The duo are facing trial over allegation that they approved the allowances and "running costs" of members of the 6th session of House of Representatives, in violation of the approved remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders as prescribed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009.

EFCC had in a 17-count criminal charge it preferred against them, alleged that the accused persons, being entrusted with House of Representatives' Account No. 00390070000018 with the United Bank of Africa Plc and the Overhead Account of the House of Representatives with First Bank of Nigeria Plc, properties of the Federal Government of Nigeria, dishonestly used the said accounts to obtain loans totalling about N40 billion.

At the resumed hearing on the matter, yesterday, five witnesses brought to court by the anti-graft agency took turns and testified before trial Justice Suleiman Belgore.

Among those that appeared as prosecution witnesses were the Branch Manager of the United Bank of Africa, UBA, Mr. Alex Adeyemi as PW-5 and the Relationship Manager of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Ms. Safiya Musa as PW-9.

How the loans were sourced

They narrated in the open court how the said loans were sourced and obtained by the leadership of the lower chamber of the legislature whilst the accused persons held sway, stressing, however, that the funds were not transferred to the private accounts of either the ex-speaker or his deputy, but into a recurrent account opened in the name of the National Assembly in year 2000.

Specifically, the UBA manager told the court that neither of the two accused persons were signatories to the said account, adding that his bank had in the past, granted such loan facility to the previous administrations of the legislative house and always liquidated same immediately budgetary allocation was released.

His counterpart from the First Bank, on the other hand, informed the court that N12 billion loan facility her bank granted to the lower legislative house during the tenure of the accused persons had not been fully paid.

The prosecuting agency tendered 16 separate documents through the five witnesses and were admitted and marked as Exhibits A25 to A41.

Culled from Vanguard