Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of a Federal High Court in Abuja requested for a bribe to give judgement against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the corruption case involving a former Director of Nigerian Navy Accounts, Rear Admiral Tahir Yusuf (retd), a leaked audio of the military officer’s brother, Abdulbar has revealed.
SaharaReporters had reported that Yusuf was being prosecuted by the Nigerian government through the EFCC for stealing N2 billion while serving as Director of Nigerian Navy Accounts.
In an audio recording exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, Abdulbar, a banker was heard telling Yusuf that the judge was not paid any money.
According to him, Justice Ojukwu invited the lawyer identified as Barrister Mathew and accused him of wanting “to chop alone.”
He added that the EFCC Head of Legal department was only given N3 million out of the N5 million he had requested.
“Barrister Mathew, the only money he was given was N1.5m. Then, when they met with the EFCC Head of Legal before everything, all payment made to him (Head of Legal) was N3 million while he was to be paid N5 million. Until now, they have not paid the balance of the money that was supposed to be paid to him. The Head of Legal assumed he has eaten (taken) the money,” Abdulbar was heard saying.
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“He also said the judge has not been paid any money. The judge (Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu) even brought forth herself and asked what they wanted her to do but he could not do anything simply because he didn’t know Oga (Real Admiral Yusuf) and the other people said there is no money.
“So, the judge (Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu) was given nothing, because the lawyer said even the judge approached him. She called him, he even went to her house, she was like ‘ah ah’, it’s like you collected this thing (money) and you want to chop alone or anything, so that is why something is not done. So, that is the thing we are also going after now because we were told she is the wife of Ojukwu (Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu) and she do (sic) collect bribe.
“So, after this adjournment, if Babangida is not complying, it’s the judge we have to meet again, since the lawyer knows her, we are going to approach her so she would do a judgement in our favour and let us move forward. So that is what we are going for.
“The problem now is not the Head of Legal, he is ready to comply with us and he has written they should accept this amount (N3 million). All we need to do was to balance him his N2 million and maybe possibly, we would give him something more.”
Justice Ojukwu had in 2020 ordered the permanent forfeiture of about N500 million found to be fraudulently amassed by Yusuf to the Nigerian government.
The total amount forfeited was N392,695,857.87, including $91,955.38 and the sum of £15,050 held in domiciliary accounts.
Yusuf, previously second-in-command to the Chief of Account and Budget, Naval Headquarters (NHQ), held the cash in seven accounts- both private and corporate in two banks.
The seven accounts were operated under the name of a company, Bitmas Enterprise, in Zenith Bank while two were held in Yusuf’s name in the defunct Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank.
Following the forfeiture, SaharaReporters gathered that Yusuf fled Nigeria to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.
The EFCC and National Intelligence Agency also asked the Nigeria Immigration Service and Interpol to place him on a watch list and have him arrested at the point of entry or exit.
However, Yusuf sneaked back to the country in October 2021 after he illegally obtained an international passport with the help of some corrupt government officials through Niger Republic, a source told SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters had reported how Yusuf once boasted about giving money to many EFCC operatives including the commission’s Director of Operations.
The retired military officer had disclosed this to his workers after illegally reopening two of his hotels sealed by the anti-graft agency.
“After EFCC marked Rtd Tahir Yusuf’s hotels in Kaduna and Sokoto, guess what he did, he asked his people to wipe and clean the EFCC markings. This man is so arrogant. As we are talking, business activities are ongoing in the hotels,” a source had told SaharaReporters.
He had said, “One of his staff (members) said he told them not to panic as those who came to seal off the property are fake EFCC operatives.
“He was boasting around that he had reached out to the EFCC through his younger brother, Abdulbari Yusuf, who is a banker with Zenith Bank, Maiduguri branch.
“He said he gave money to many EFCC operatives, including a Director of Operations, so nothing can be done to him again.”
