…Lawyers involved in court case were paid N250m
By Gabriel Udeh, Kaduna
Fresh evidence has emerged of how the alleged illegal leadership of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), headed by Mr. Alabi Akolade David, shared the sum of over N5. 2 billion belonging to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria.
Mr. Alabi whose leadership of ALGON had been declared a nullity by the court and directed to desist from parading himself as the ALGON‘s president, in connivance with cronies allegedly conspired to open an account with First Bank of Nigeria, with account number: 2034749191 where the fund where funneled to ensure easy access.
Documents available to our correspondent revealed that a letter, purportedly written from the office of the National President of ALGON and signed by Mrs. Binta A. Bello had requested the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, of transfer of the fund to a new account opened by Mr David whose leadership had then been declared null and void by the court as he was not the chairman of any local government area in Nigeria and therefore not legible to head ALGON.
In the letter dated April 22, 2020, ALGON under the alleged illegal leadership had pleaded and extended what insiders described as an attempt at facilitating the release of the fund. According to the letter from ALGON authorising the release of the fund it stated :
“To stop the spread of those pandemic across the Country and the need to join hands with the Federal Government in tackling the scourge, the beneficiaries of the judgment sum have agreed to contribute 10% of the judgment sum to the account of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for the fight of Coronavirus Nationwide (see attached).“In the light of the above, I wish to convey their consent and authorise the payment of 10% of the said sum to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the simultaneous release of the balance to ALGON?”
“The truth of the matter is that it is an act of unlawfulness for a leadership that had been declared Illegal to meet and superintend over the sharing of monies meant for refund of over-deductions of taxes in all the 774 local governments.
“That money ought to have been refunded to the LGCs, but none of them collected a single kobo,” the source disclosed”, it ststed. An inside source informed our repoter that as soon as the money was transferred to the First Bank Plc account, the jamboree started, with members of the illegal leadership team engaged in sharing the refunded deductions from the 774 local government areas among themselves and their cronies without bothering to refund the money to the 774 LGCs that are the real owners of the moniesA team of lawyers that were involved in the court case to recover the sum of N5.2 billion were paid the sum of N250 million as consultancy fees. In a letter written by Greenfield Legal Practitioners, dated October 06, 2020 and addressed to ALGON’s National President and routed through the Association’s Director of Legal Services, Mrs Evan Enekwe, ALGON was reminded to kindly attend the meeting “with evidence of the payment of the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N250, 000,000) only being the bill of charges for our professional fees overtime to reconcile same with our records.”On Wednesday, both Mr. David and the IMC were invited by the Department of Security Services (DSS) to unravel why Mr. David has refused to stop parading himself as National President of ALGON when he is not the executive chairman of any local government area in Nigeria.
The DSS has been on a hot trail of a petition sent to the Presidency by ALGON’s lawyer, Barrister Adeola Adedipe who has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and stop the rot going on in ALGON.
In the petition dated May 5, 2021, the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of ALGON, headed by the Chairman of LGA of Niger State, Hon Abdullahi Maje, had called on President Buhari to note that Mr David “who parades himself as President of ALGON, is not qualified to be so, by virtue of Section 5 of the ALGON’s Constitution [attached]. The said Mr. Alabi Akolade David, is not the Chairman of any Local Government Area in Nigeria.
“Although, he is the Chairman of Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA), LCDAs are unfortunately not known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “This is the current position of law, as laid down by the Supreme Court in AG., LAGOS STATE v. AG., FEDERATION (2004) 18 NWLR (Pt. 904) 1 and also attested to by an Opinion written from the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation [attached]”.Last week, reacting to ALGON’s petition that clearly showed that Mr. David is an impostor President of ALGON as contained in a court verdict, the Guaranty Trust bank (GTB) directed its staff not to honour any ALGON’s cheque signed by the illegal leadership of ALGON headed by Mr. David.
The petition had insisted that the National Executive Council (NEC) of ALGON through a resolution on September 6th September 2019 had removed Mr. David from office as President of the Association. Some of the resolution arrived at the meeting included the removal of the illegal leadership of Mr. David as President of the Association; standing order voiding any official document or action, signed or prompted by removed president and to empanel an Interim Management Committee (IMC) that is expected to set up an Electoral Committee to conduct a substantive presidential election, within six months.A source that privy to the matter disclosed that the case is stacked against the illegal leadership of ALGON who, despite a verdict by a competent court, has continued to be engaged in a long drawn battle with the IMC of ALGON.A top government official who craved anonymity revealed that with the DSS delving into the matter and with a valid court judgement declaring the IMC as the recognised leadership of ALGON, the matter is set to be resolved once and for all.alledged
