Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news as they happen

    What's Hot

    PIPELINE: Paramount Leaders, Stakeholders Commend PINL Operations In Rivers

    January 22, 2023

    Birthday Bash of Princess Jayden Iseghohimen in South Africa.* 

    January 22, 2023

    Intercontinental Prophet, Joshua Iginla Reveals God’s mind on Tinubu, Wike, Peter obi and others As he released 2023 prophecies

    January 3, 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Megastar Magazine
    • Politics

      2023: ‘One Day Governors’ Urge Nigerians To Vote For Tinubu As Nigerian President Under APC

      December 5, 2022

      Tinubu/Shettima Ticket: Outrage over Babachir Lawal’s Comments On Channels Television

      November 26, 2022

      APC appoints SDNON President, Femi Davies, as Ogun State Publicity Committee chairman

      November 23, 2022

      NED NWOKO BEGINS DELTA NORTH SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN.

      November 7, 2022

      Canadian PM Assures Of Greater Ties, Welcomes Nigeria Conference Of Speakers of State

      September 19, 2022
    • Entertainment
      1. People
      2. Events
      3. Fashion
      Featured
      Entertainment December 14, 2022

      Zambian finest and NOLLYWOOD Actress SHERINNE PHIRI win big at AMPMAN FILM FESTIVAL IN TURKEY

      Recent

      Zambian finest and NOLLYWOOD Actress SHERINNE PHIRI win big at AMPMAN FILM FESTIVAL IN TURKEY

      December 14, 2022

      TOP NOTCH NOLLYWOOD ACTORS SET FOR 20TH NOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL IN GERMANY 

      July 14, 2022

      AMPMAN SUPPORTS MEMBER WITH ONE MILLION NAIRA.

      June 4, 2022
    • Business

      It’s Double Honours for Aruwa Capital Management CEO, Adesuwa Rhodes In London

      October 17, 2022

      Olu of Warri Presented With Key to the City of Brampton.

      June 14, 2022

      T’suut’ina Nation Calgary Canada twin Warri Kingdom for Trade, Investment and Cultural exchange. 

      June 3, 2022

      Olu of Warri: Pictorial @ The Ogiame Atuwatse III Economic Summit.

      May 26, 2022

      Investor, Entrepreneur, and Women Empowerment advocate, Adesuwa Listed Among Top 40 under 40 Black Women In Asset Management globally

      May 13, 2022
    • Health

      MALARIA VACCINE ; NED NWOKO FOUNDATION MEETS SANARIA INC FOR COLLABORATION ON PRODUCTION OF AN EFFECTIVE VACCINE.

      June 23, 2022

      Wuwu Ore: Frenzy As Olori Atuwatse lll Brings Succour To Delta Community 

      April 4, 2022

      Olori Atuwatse III To Champion Free Medical Outreach In Delta

      December 8, 2021

      2021 Keffi Polo: Immortalize Late Capt Hosa Organizers Urged FG

      November 12, 2021

      Ned Nwoko Foundation to lead partners in promotion and Implementation of RTSS malaria vaccine

      October 13, 2021
    • Culture

      An Uninformed Generation -By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.

      June 26, 2022

      Tsuut’ ina Nation Receives Olu of Warri In Canada Amid Pomp And pageantry 

      June 3, 2022

      Olu of Warri To Visit Canada, Set To Explore Investment Opportunities.

      May 25, 2022

      Christmas Without Captain Hosa Okunbo

      December 26, 2021

      [Watch] Thanksgiving Ceremony – 30 years of Lee Engineering Construction & Company Limited

      December 17, 2021
    • Lifestyle

      King Brutus celebrates Princess Omoye Iseghohimen on her birthday.

      November 11, 2022

      Titilayo Eboh Mary, The Woman With A Passion For Giving Titilayo Eboh-Mary, The

      October 31, 2022

      SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GREETING TO ESAMA OF BENIN AT 88

      September 22, 2022

      SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO MAMA MERCY EZEGWU EBERE OCHOGA

      September 9, 2022

      ERELU OKIN: FOOTPRINTS OF A BENEVOLENT PEACOCK

      August 14, 2022
    • Sports

      World Tennis champion, Serena Williams retires after winning 73 titles in 27 years, bids farewell at US Open.

      September 6, 2022

      Late Capt. Hosa Immortalize As Keffi Polo Tournament Dedicates Trophy

      November 16, 2021

      2021 Keffi Polo: Immortalize Late Capt Hosa Organizers Urged FG

      November 12, 2021

      PRINCE HON NED NWOKO UNVEILS NED NWOKO ANIOMA CUP 2021

      March 28, 2021

      NFF President Amaju Pinnick Elected into FIFA Executive Council

      March 13, 2021
    • Contact
    YouTube Facebook Instagram WhatsApp
    Megastar Magazine
    Home»News»PARIS CLUB REFUND: WHY GOVERNMENT’S SUITS CAN’T STOP PAYMENT OF MY $142 MILLION – NED NWOKO
    News

    PARIS CLUB REFUND: WHY GOVERNMENT’S SUITS CAN’T STOP PAYMENT OF MY $142 MILLION – NED NWOKO

    Ifetayo AdeniyiBy Ifetayo AdeniyiSeptember 11, 20217 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email Telegram
    Share
    Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Mr Nwoko says there is no case in court challenging his monetary claims for the work he did to ensure the Paris Club refund.
    4 min read

    Ned Nwoko, a former lawmaker, has criticised the Nigerian governors’ recent protest letter against the payment of a controversial debt associated with the Paris Club refund.

    Mr Nwoko is one of the federal government’s six creditors controversially owed $418million debts associated with the refund.

    In a September 6, 2021 letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, Mr Nwoko said there was no justification to continue to withhold the payment of his $142 million share of the money.

    Writing through his team of lawyers, the former federal lawmaker said the governors’ suits challenging the indebtedness, which they cited in their protest letter, had no bearing on his case.

    Mr Nwoko, who is himself a lawyer, maintained that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF)’s protest letter to the finance minister contained “misinformation” and “ignored age-long established legal principles”.

    “There is NO CASE in court over the payment to our client to warrant a stay of execution of the judgment by the Federal Ministry of Finance,” Mr Nwoko’s legal team, led by Joe Gadzama, wrote.

    Controversies

    PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the governors wrote to the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, following her directive to issue promissory notes to the creditors.

    The promissory notes, when issued, are to authorise payments to the creditors through deductions from the monthly allocations of state and local governments for 10 years.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the issuance of the promissory notes to the creditors, ignoring repeated calls by the Kayode Fayemi-led NGF for the suspension of the payment for a forensic audit to be carried out, PREMIUM TIMES reported.

    Mr Fayemi, the Ekiti State governor, since becoming the chairperson of the NGF in May 2019, had been asking for a forensic audit into the agreements and the work done by the creditors leading to the monetary judgements validating their monetary claims.

    Some of the creditors, like Mr Nwoko, claimed they provided legal consultancy services to the NGF to help them recover funds over-deducted by the federal government from their monthly allocations to service, buy back the Paris Club loan and make the London Club loan exit payments, between 1995 and 2002.

    One of the consultant creditors outlandishly claimed he earned $47.8million from helping the NGF to reverse a $478million judgment on the Paris Club refund matter.

    Others among the six creditors claimed to have executed contracts for the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), a claim the association and an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s report had discredited.

    Virtually all the “consultants and contractors” obtained consent judgements awarding the humongous amount of funds in their favour. But the current leadership of the NGF and ALGON demand that the awards be scrutinised before the creditors are paid.

    Series of exclusive reports by PREMIUM TIMES had exposed the controversies surrounding the suspicious debts.

    Despite the raging controversies, the newspaper reported how the finance ministry, through its permanent secretary, Aliyu Ahmed, subsequently directed the Debt Management Office (DMO) to issue promissory notes to the six creditors as the means of settling the debts.

    In protest, the NGF, through their lawyer, Femi Falana, wrote a September 1, 2021 letter, to the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, urging her to withdraw the payment directive, which they said was in disregard for their appeals and other suits challenging the indebtedness.

    Defiance to legal processes is an act of “corruption and lawlessness”, the governors said in their letter, and advised the minister to be guided by the Supreme Court’s warning against such conduct.

    ‘Governors’ erroneous claims’

    But, in his letter to the justice minister, Mr Malami, (one of the Buhari administration’s top officials behind the desperate push for the payment) Mr Nwoko’s lawyer said he had previously “corrected the obvious fundamental error which Mr. Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had fallen into”.

    He pointed out the governors’ alleged mix-up between his case and the one the NGF was challenging in court.

    According to him, “the payment by promissory notes” to Mr Nwoko “is not founded on Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 which Mr. Falana, SAN, is seeking Leave to appeal against”.

    “The judgment being enforced, with respect to our client, is a CONSENT JUDGEMENT in which the NGF, Mr. Falana’s client, is a party to, that is Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/148/2017.”

    The lawyer, Joe Gadzama, also argued that it was erroneous for the NGF to ask the finance minister to stop the payment based on their pending suits which he said had nothing to do with the judgements his client was enforcing.

    Questioning the propriety of the appeal being pursued by the governors, Mr Gadama asked, “The question with a notorious answer is, CAN A PARTY APPEAL A CONSENT JUDGEMENT? The answer is NO.”

    “It is unfortunate that what is essentially a legal issue of simple contract is being politicised and sensationalised to skew public opinion and blackmail the Federal Ministry of Finance into declining the payments.”

    Payment justification

    Justifying Mr Nwoko’s entitlement to the monetary claim, Mr Gadzama said his client spent his funds to execute the contract with payment hinged on the success of the recovery of over-deducted Paris Club and London Club loan for the NGF and ALGON.

    He added that despite the risk of bearing the whole of the possible losses, Mr Nwoko engaged other professionals and “in some cases borrowed through private arrangements to achieve the objective”.

    “The states and local governments never had confidence in the chances of success of these consultancies and will not stake their money to fund the inherent costs therein,” the letter stated.

    It added that Mr Nwoko agreed to the percentages of the achieved recovery, which he said was now being enforced.

    Mr Nwoko’s lawyer also noted that his client “gave substantial concessions to the NGF and discounted the sum he is entitled to in the judgements being enforced”.

    According to him, EFCC had investigated and issued three reports exonerating Mr Nwoko of any wrongdoing concerning his claim.

    But PREMIUM TIMES’ expose on the matter showed that the EFCC had in a previous report sent to the AGF office questioned the legitimacy of the $159million being claimed by one of the six creditors.

    Mr Gadzama said while his client had been exonerated, the EFCC was still investigating a case of diversion of funds meant for legal consultants in connection to the Paris Club refund by the NGF. The NGF was then being led by former Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari.

    The creditor’s lawyer alleged that the governors arm-twisted the former finance minister Kemi Adeosun, into paying to them $8.5million and N19.4 billion as first and second instalments of the five per cent provided for legal fees.

    He also accused the NGF of illegally appropriating $100million out of the $350million approved by President Buhari for Mr Nwoko’s firm, Linas International Limited.

    Instead of paying the “authentic consultants”, the NGF paid “later-day consultants”, Mr Gadzama wrote.

    According to him, the anti-corruption agency is now investigating “cases involving the questionable and later-day consultants hurriedly contrived and used by the NGF to funnel these sums of money”.

    “It is always easy to forget that people had paid back to EFCC the money paid to them without justification,” he added.

    Mr Yari, who was then the chairman of the NGF as of the time of the transactions, had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his handling of the proceeds of the Paris Club refunds.

    PREMIUM TIMES, however, reported that Mr Yari, who was recently interrogated by the EFCC, had been under the anti-graft agency’s searchlight over his handling of the Paris Club funds since 2017.

    Mr Nwoko’s lawyer said should the Mr Fayemi-led NGF “have the conviction” that the body is corrupt, “the bold thing to do is to call them out and conduct internal self-cleansing”.

    “Nothing stops the governors from conducting ‘Forensic Audit’ on their activities,” the creditor’s lawyer wrote.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleA Special Birthday Tribute to Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion ,CON:An Enigma Like No Other
    Next Article States Urged On $418m Paris, London Clubs’ Refunds’ Legal Fees
    Ifetayo Adeniyi
    • Website

    Adeniyi Ifetayo Moses is an Entrepreneur, Award winning Celebrity journalist, Luxury and Lifestyle Reporter with Ben tv London and Publisher, Megastar Magazine. He has carved a niche for himself with over 15 years of experience in celebrity Journalism and Media PR.

    Related Posts

    News December 25, 2022

    NED NWOKO FELICITATES WITH CHRISTIANS AT CHRISTMAS, URGES PEACE AND LOVE AMONG NIGERIANS.

    News December 14, 2022

    SDNON Loses Member, Michael Alonge

    Politics December 5, 2022

    2023: ‘One Day Governors’ Urge Nigerians To Vote For Tinubu As Nigerian President Under APC

    Politics November 26, 2022

    Tinubu/Shettima Ticket: Outrage over Babachir Lawal’s Comments On Channels Television

    Politics November 23, 2022

    APC appoints SDNON President, Femi Davies, as Ogun State Publicity Committee chairman

    Politics November 7, 2022

    NED NWOKO BEGINS DELTA NORTH SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN.

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

    Don't Miss
    People January 22, 2023

    PIPELINE: Paramount Leaders, Stakeholders Commend PINL Operations In Rivers

    PIPELINE: Paramount Leaders, Stakeholders Commend PINL Operations In Rivers. Following adherence to core professionalism…

    Birthday Bash of Princess Jayden Iseghohimen in South Africa.* 

    January 22, 2023

    Intercontinental Prophet, Joshua Iginla Reveals God’s mind on Tinubu, Wike, Peter obi and others As he released 2023 prophecies

    January 3, 2023

    NED NWOKO GREETS NIGERIANS AT NEW YEAR: HARPS ON RESCUE MISSION.

    January 3, 2023

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news as they happen

    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    About Us
    About Us

    We are Multimedia company that specializes in Events Coverage and Planning, Media Publicity, Publishing, Awards and Outsourcing in giving styles to your event and creating brand visibility for your products and services.

    Email Us: info@megastarmagazine.com
    Contact: +234 705 311 1111

    Our Picks

    PIPELINE: Paramount Leaders, Stakeholders Commend PINL Operations In Rivers

    January 22, 2023

    Birthday Bash of Princess Jayden Iseghohimen in South Africa.* 

    January 22, 2023

    Intercontinental Prophet, Joshua Iginla Reveals God’s mind on Tinubu, Wike, Peter obi and others As he released 2023 prophecies

    January 3, 2023
    New Comments
    • Nene on Ohanaeze Ndigbo Women Solicits for a Panacea Peace,Unity Progress and promotes culture
    • Favour Egbune on EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: LOVE TO WORK WITH BURNABOY SOON, SAYS KENDRICK AWE.
    • Akpobo on Olu of Warri: Ex-President Jonathan Congratulates Tsola Says His Emergence Divinely Ordained
    • Austine on God is my role model,every other person copied from other people in a way or two – Hopey J
    Megastar Magazine
    YouTube Facebook WhatsApp Instagram
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © 2023 Megastar Magazine. Designed by MANNDI

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.