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‘Missing’ N89 trillion: Presidency speaks *Says scammers at work
“If the Federal Government can find N89 trillion, it can pay off all its debt, both foreign and local currency and all state government debts and still have over N10 trillion left.”
This was the way the Presidency waved off claims of a missing N89.09 trillion from stamp duty, as false, saying scammers who had earlier tried to hoodwink the Federal Government, were currently at work in promoting the ridiculous narrative.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who responded to the scandalous claims, said in a statement on Tuesday that the claims being made by Gudaji Kazaure, member of the House of Representatives on mismanagement or embezzlement of stamp duty funds, was patently false.
Kazaure, who said he is also the Secretary of the Presidential Committee on the reconciliation and recovery of all stamp duties, had in a recent interview, not only made the allegation, but accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), and the protocol department of the State House, of conspiring to prevent him from briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the findings so far made, in order to brief him on progress reports on efforts to trace trapped N89.09 trillion.
But, the statement, in dismissing the claim, explaining how the issues surrounding the development, began when the President came into office in 2015 and discovered that a law, which stipulated for the collection of a “token on banking transactions existed but was not being correctly implemented,” because certain characters apparently formed a cartel with collaborators in the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and were allegedly “collecting and pocketing this money.”
A Non Government Organisation (NGO) was said to have brought up the issue before the new government, claiming that the country had lost the sum of over N20 trillion to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System ((NIBSS) between 2013-2016 in this regard, assuring that the money could be recovered and paid back into the government coffers.
“The consultants asked to be paid a professional fee of 7.5 percent and were placed under the supervision of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Following the lack of progress in the promised recovery, the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, wrote on March 8, 2018 to the SGF conveying a presidential directive that following the lack of progress and several expressed concerns received, the activities of the consultants be discontinued.
“In the aftermath of this dismissal, the consultants sued the government. A court of competent jurisdiction subsequently ruled in favour of the government.
“Arising from the outcome of the litigation and the well-known controversy on the legally responsible agent for collecting this levy, the administration went to the National Assembly and caused an amendment to the law and removed NIPOST from the duty of its collection.
“Having lost a potentially lucrative line of business, the characters returned to the drawing board to formulate one form of trick or another to intimidate the government but the vigilant teams of the administration kept them at bay. They returned lately to the government through honourable Muhammadu Gudaji Kazaure with a plan to track the so-called lost stamp duties with the erstwhile consultant as chairman and honourable Gudaji as secretary.
“When it emerged that the petitioner and lead consultant of the committee the President had dissolved via the late Abba Kyari’s letter of March 28 had masqueraded himself and re-emerged as the chairman of the new recovery committee championed by the Hon. Gudaji, the President rescinded the approval he gave and asked that it be stopped from operating under the seal of his office.
“In addition to this committee being chaired by a petitioner, there were also other concerns relating to natural justice and fair hearing in having the Chief Justice of the Federation as a committee member and a serving member of the house of representatives as secretary, which are not in line with section 5(1),(a)&(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“Once the President rescinded his approval to constitute this committee, (it) lost all legitimacy. Arguments have in recent days been flying left and right over the rightfulness of a committee being dissolved. People are entitled to hold opinions. But these opinions do not change the fact that under our constitution, the power of the President to appoint and remove persons or groups is duly entrenched and unless such powers are shared with the parliament, the President can hire and fire literally at will, and in line with the law.
“Therefore, there is evidence to debunk claims Kazaure’s claims on the missing funds. The same set of consultants claimed in 2016 that there was N20 trillion to be collected, but it was found to be false. To go back to the main issue though, it is now evident that the consultants and petitioners’ claims of a missing N89 trillion from stamp duty appears false and a figment of their malicious imaginations. The entire banking sector deposit is not even up to half of N89 trillion.
“Indeed, if the Federal Government can find N89 trillion, it can pay off all its debt, both foreign and local currency and all state government debts and still have over N10 trillion left. So, the claim by these so-called consultants and the disbanded committee is totally ridiculous and a complete mockery.”
Meanwhile, in a recent a video clip in Hausa and a press release in English, Kazaure had asked Shehu to answer pertinent questions relating to the matter particularly the sources of the $171 billion in the CBN’s I&E window account; N23.4 trillion CBN gave as a loan to some banks; and N13 trillion loan to the federal government from FMDQ;
In response, Shehu said: “To my knowledge, the CBN-established investors and exporters (I&E) window is a foreign exchange trading platform where banks and other authorised dealers can buy or sell foreign exchange. These trades are recorded by the CBN daily and reported as turnover or activity in the market.”
“Contrary to Hon. Kazaure’s assertion, the I&E window is NOT an “account” where foreign exchange is deposited. It is simply a platform for trading foreign exchange. As of April 2020, the total amount of foreign exchange traded (either bought or sold) in the window was about $171 billion. The size of this amount suggests that there is adequate liquidity or availability of foreign exchange and that anyone who wants to buy or sell would easily find a counterparty to trade with. The amount does not mean that we have $171 billion stacked away in some vault or saved in any account.
“Note that both the CBN and authorised dealers are free to bring foreign exchange to the window, and in fact, the CBN is not the major seller of foreign exchange in that segment of the market.”
On the N23.4 trillion loan the apex bank was to have given some banks, he described the lawmaker’s assertion as “baseless,” adding: “The CBN is best placed to respond to this question though I must say the assertion itself is both baseless and misleading. The total balance sheet of the CBN is not anywhere near N23 trillion. So how can it give such an amount in loans to any or some banks?”
Also speaking on the source of the FMDQ loan to the federal government, the presidential spokesman, quoting data from Debt Management Office (DMO) said the total amount of Nigeria’s domestic debt as of September 2022 is N21.6 trillion, wondering that if Kazaure suggesting that a “small company in Lagos holds over 60 percent of Nigeria’s domestic debt.
“More also, of the N21.6 trillion domestic debt, only N4.5 trillion are in treasury bills? How then can a company in Lagos hold more treasury bills (N13 trillion) than the entire treasury bills issued by the federal government? For the avoidance of doubt, I also took time to reach out to the FMDQ (Financial Markets Derivative Quotes) and understand from their audited financial statements that their holdings of FGN treasury bills is just N7.99 billion as of December 2021.”
Stating that he could not provide a response to Kazaure’s enquiry on the ‘total equity of CBN and its national budget.’ he said: “Anyone who understands this question should provide an answer. I can offer this information: on an annual basis and in line with the fiscal responsibility act, the CBN transfers 80 percent of its operating surplus to the federal government as part of the budget revenues. In the last six years, this contribution has amounted to over N150 billion.
“Let me inform, that Mr. President has not completely ignored these matters. Indeed, a duly authorised committee under the attorney-general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) is working to reconcile, recover and transfer all stamp duties into stamp duties central account. The work is ongoing, it is not finished yet and the President will continue to show his keen interest in the matter of stamp duty collection.”
President Bola Tinubu, on Friday, clapped back at Nigerians lashing out at him for failing to go into to the Angwan Rukuba village in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State to meet the community grieving over last Sunday’s massacre of about 30 people by gunmen.
Instead of going into town to commiserate with the community, the President, stopped at the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where he met with a few of the family members, government officials and some traditional rulers, a development, which elicited a lot of lacerating condemnation from the public.
But Tinubu, who conveyed his position through Bayo Onanuga, his spokesman, explained that he was completely pressed for town by exigencies, including a scheduled meeting with President of Chad.
Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, while stressing apart from Tinubu’s scheduled engagements for Thursday with the Chadian President in Abuja, he also had a travel plan to Iperu in Ogun State, all scheduled before he agreed to be in Plateau after a meeting with Caleb Mutfwang, Governor of the state at the State House, the previous day.
Explaining that his boss was unable to postpone the meeting with the Chadian President, which was about “strengthening security collaboration between the two countries,” Onanuga added: “The President’s bilateral meeting with Chadian president ran longer than expected, which affected the scheduled departure for Jos.
“Upon arrival in Jos, the visit encountered some logistical challenges. While the road distance from the airport to Jos township is approximately 40 minutes, the runway does not support night flights due to the absence of navigational aids.
“The constraints made it unfeasible to drive into town, meet victims for on-the-spot assessment and return to the airport before dusk. Consequently, state and federal officials decided to bring representatives of the affected community to a hall adjoining the airport so the President could meet with them promptly while adhering to flight restrictions.
“Among the people in the hall were the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police, who had visited Rukuba, the epicentre of the conflict. President Tinubu deployed the high-level team to Rukuba, including the Senior Special Assistant on Community Engagement, to undertake critical groundwork on security and community engagement, with a view to stabilising the area before his arrival.
“Beyond expressing his condolences to the victims, President Tinubu’s objective was to engage with critical stakeholders in Plateau State on ending the recurring, decades-old conflict that has resulted in needless loss of lives and property.”
The statement, maintained that even without Tinubu meeting physically with the people, the visit still achieved its purpose “despite the naysayers’ attempts to ridicule it.”
From Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, came a major admonition for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), regarding its vow to continue with its congresses and national convention despite the latest development affecting its leadership.
INEC had on Wednesday night, released what seemed a political bombshell, when it declared that it no longer recognised the leadership of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as National Chairman and Secretary of Nigeria’s main opposition party based on the commission’s interpretation of the March 12 decision of the Court of Appeal, ordering parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum in the case challenging the leadership.
Against the backdrop of the rejection of the Mark group who accused him of bias in interpreting what the appellate court meant in the suit brought by Nafiu Bala Gwombe, former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Amupitan, maintained that all he did was in line with the orders of court.
Regarding the claim of Mark, who told reporters in Abuja, on Thursday that the ADC would continue with its schedule in line with the timeline and the implications of halting would have on the party, doing otherwise, the INEC boss, warned of the implication, saying it could lead to fatalities in future.
Hear him: “Well, as far as we are concerned, INEC is a party in the case, and INEC was sued as a defendant by a member of the leadership. And secondly, you see, the court is very clear. Parties, including David Mark himself, should refrain from doing anything that would face the situation of faith accompanied in court.
“So, if they are going ahead with their congress, with their convention, it’s left for them to look at it, whether it’s in contravention or not, because INEC did not just take a decision. We didn’t just wake up one day and took this decision. There was something that led to it. There was another part – don’t do anything, don’t take any step that would render any proceeding before the court nugatory. And also, that would face on the trial court a situation of helplessness, of faith accompanied.
“So, if already they’re asking that, don’t do any congress, don’t do any convention, it’s a relief that is being claimed. And especially the final motion for that purpose, that motion has not been detailed.
“So, if they decide, let me tell you what happened in Zamfira. It happened in the past. We don’t want to conduct an election without this early warning. And at the end of the day, after you have won, the court again will come and declare the election invalid. And the implication is that the person with the second highest number of votes will be declared the winner.
“It happened in Plateau State during the last election, where after the question of primaries was an issue, and congresses were not held in some states, in some portion of Plateau State. So, the court said, go and do those primaries. But unfortunately, they did not obey the court order. So, failing to obey the court order has consequences.”
Strongly rejecting allegations of bias, Amupitan, who spoke in an interview aired on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Television, on Friday, told his host: “I am not guilty as charged.
“Let me say it very clearly. I am not a party to the plan of anyone to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. By the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigeria is a multi-party state. Look at the last FCT election. There were many parties that contested. I think about 10 political parties. In that case, you even the APC having five, and PDP winning one. Zenith Labour Party did very well. There are other parties that are existing.
“The Court of Appeal made some preservation orders. The preservation orders were very clear. To the extent that, number one, in view of the fact that INEC had already released its timetable for the election, the intelligence was directed an order to proceed with the case expectations, and this is an originating summons.
“Then number two, which is now causing the controversy, is the order, specific order, that parties should maintain status quo ante bellum. It did not just stop at that. The parties should not do anything that would force defeat or conflict on the tri-accords. And finally, that we should not, parties should not do anything that would render the proceedings before the Court of Appeals, just like the definite orders of the Court of Appeals.”
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), seeking to overturn a Federal High Court judgement that restrained it from imposing fines on radio and television stations across the country.
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi, on behalf of a three-member panel, upheld the earlier ruling and set aside the fines imposed by the NBC on 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019, for alleged breaches of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
The panel was presided over by Justice Abba Mohammed, with Justice Donatus Okorowo as the third member.
According to a statement issued by the Communications Officer of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Idowu Adewale, the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal stemmed from a suit filed by the non-governmental organisation in November 2021, challenging the NBC’s powers to impose fines on broadcasters.
The Federal High Court, in its judgement delivered on May 10, 2023, by Justice James Omotosho, ruled in favour of MRA after the NBC failed to defend the suit.
The court held that fines are sanctions imposed on persons found guilty of criminal offences and, under Nigerian law, only courts of law have the authority to impose such penalties.
Setting aside the fines of ₦500,000 each imposed on the affected stations, Justice Omotosho stated that the NBC “is neither a court nor a judicial tribunal to make pronouncements on the guilt of broadcast stations, notwithstanding what the NBC Code says.”
He added that the Commission’s actions violated the Constitution.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the NBC filed a motion in July 2023, urging the same court to set aside the judgement on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction and had reached its decision without considering relevant facts.
However, in November 2023, Justice Omotosho dismissed the application, describing it as futile and an afterthought, noting that available evidence showed the Commission had been duly served but failed to appear in court to defend the case.
The NBC subsequently approached the Court of Appeal in July 2024, seeking to overturn the judgement.
At the hearing on February 4, 2026, Victor Ogude (SAN), leading Mr Kehinde Wilkey for the NBC, adopted his brief of argument and made additional submissions. Counsel to MRA, Ezenwa Anumnu, also adopted his brief and responded accordingly.
In its ruling, the appellate court agreed with MRA’s position that the NBC, having failed to contest the suit at the Federal High Court, could not raise fresh challenges at the appellate level.
Justice Oyewumi held that the appeal lacked merit and accordingly dismissed it.
With this decision, MRA has secured victory in the first of two appeals involving the NBC over separate Federal High Court judgements barring the Commission from imposing fines on broadcast stations.
The second appeal, filed by the NBC against a similar judgement delivered on January 17, 2024 by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Abuja, is still pending. The Court of Appeal heard arguments in that matter on March 25, 2026 and has reserved judgement.
In that case, the NBC is challenging a ruling arising from a suit filed by MRA after the Commission imposed fines of ₦5 million each on a television station and three pay-TV platforms in 2022 for allegedly undermining national security through the broadcast of documentaries on banditry in Nigeria.
My Jos visit achieved its purpose – Tinubu *Why I didn’t go to Angwa Rukuba
Congress: You’re on your own, Amupitan warns ADC *Beware of Zamfara experience
You cannot impose fines on broadcast stations, Appeal Court insists
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