Bagudu Archives - Naija Premium Gist

PANDORA PAPERS: Reports claim Kebbi gov, Bagudu, once spent time in US prison

An investigative report has revealed that the current Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu allegedly did some time in a prison in the United States of America while awaiting extradition for alleged money laundering deals.

The report also stated that he was deeply enmeshed in money laundering by helping “the Sani Abacha family to steal from Nigeria in the 1990s”.

The report by Premium Times in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) a nonprofit newsroom and network of journalists centered in Washington, D.C., tagged the Pandora Papers on Tuesday laid bare a global entanglement of political power and secretive offshore finances and dealings.

The report which did not state whether he was ever convicted, said the Kebbi governor was allegedly imprisoned in the United States over crimes of laundering funds for the late Abacha.

“Between 1998, when Abacha suddenly died, and 2020, 3.6 billion U.S. dollars have been recovered from the Abacha family and Bagudu.

The 163 million U.S. dollars recovery from Jersey in 2003 directly involved Mr Bagudu, who then negotiated a deal with the U.S. and Jersey to return the funds to Nigeria in exchange for Jersey’s withdrawal of an extradition request and his free return to Nigeria.

“He spent six months in American federal prison in Houston while awaiting extradition to Jersey. The deal to return the $163 million was to avoid that extradition,” the report stated.

According to the report by Premium Times, Bagudu was allegedly involved in a web of schemes designed to aid the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria into foreign bank accounts.

Bagudu is long known to have played an instrumental role in the Abacha conspiracy to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria. But how he set up complicated structures of secrecy to hide stolen money as well as the role of his enablers, including prestigious British law firms and Serious Organised Crimes Agency (SOCA) the predecessor of the National Crimes Agency (NCA) has never been crystal clear,” the report stated.

It further detailed how “Blue Holdings Trust, registered in Cooks Island” was established with the “beneficiaries of each of the family trusts and the corresponding investments domiciled in London were Mr Bagudu, his wife, seven children, and his brother, Ibrahim.”

Neither the governor, not.his media handlers have issued any an official response over these allegations.

Grazing routes will end farmers/herders conflict – Bagudu

September 3, 2021 No Comments

The Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, said on Thursday mapping out grazing routes would end the herdsmen/farmers’ conflict in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last month approved the review of 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country to identify the level of encroachment on the routes.

Bagudu, who featured in a Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, said mapping of the grazing reserves would help the government to identify the scale of the problem.

He added that the President’s directive did not exclude the prospect of ranching.

He said: “The committee is to identify grazing routes and work with states and map them. It is not to recover grazing routes, it is to identify the scale of the problem.

Mr. President is interested in an audit of grazing reserves. It is a voluntary and collaborative thing with the states.

People say we have spoken about ranching. Yes, but what is a ranch? Ranching does not take place in the air, it takes place on a piece of land.

“Ranches are as big as grazing reserves. In some countries like Australia, some ranches are bigger than some Nigerian states.

“We have interest historically to make our farmers do better. That’s why we have all kinds of programs and extension services, so our farmers can do better. And it is a desirable public goal.

“So, historically, we have invested more in the farming sector to the disadvantage of both fishing and animal husbandry.

“We want to help the herders modernise so Nigeria can benefit and generate more value from this important sector.

If we can support those in the banking sector with N5trillion to save the banks from collapsing, I don’t think we are doing any disservice to support our farmers, support millions in the animal husbandry sector and support our fishing communities as well.