Ex-President’s aide, 3 ex-NPA topshots named in $20M alleged bribery mess

In a report by Premium Times, the former aide to the ex-President alongside three others were named in a massive foreign bribery mess that has led to the conviction of Dredging International Services and some of its top officials in Switzerland.

Other NPA topshots fingered in the alleged bribery mess include a former Managing Director of the NPA, Adebayo Sarumi; a former Managing Director of NPA’s Eastern Ports, Felix Ovbude; a former Executive Director of Finance at the NPA, Abba Murtala Mohammed; and Daniel Afam-Obi, a former executive assistant to Sullivan Akachukwu Nwankpo.

The report further revealed that Dredging International Services (Cyprus) Ltd was sentenced to a fine of one million Swiss Francs and asked to refund 36 million Swiss Francs illegal profit after it was indicted for allegedly making illicit payments to Sarumi, Ovbude, Mohammed and Daniel Afam-Obi.

While investigators believe Afam-Obi acted on behalf of Nwankpo, it was also reported that Sarumi, Ovbude and Mohammed allegedly collectively received $2.6million in kickbacks, as Afam-Obi got $157,000 for unknown reasons.

Reacting to the allegation, Ovbude said: “I don’t know what they are talking about. I worked and many people worked. It’s one thing to say you are specifically in charge, but the issue can come up and you are exonerated. I am not told, I am not aware.”

On his part, Sarumi said: “As far as I’m concerned, I am not aware of the matter you are talking about. I hope we were not named just because we represented NPA on the board of the joint venture company.”

Dredging International Services (Cyprus) Ltd is part of a consortium which formed The Bonny Channel Management Limited that in turn entered into a joint venture arrangement with the NPA to form The Bonny Channel Company saddled with creating and maintaining a safe navigational passage for all marine users to and in the Eastern Ports of Bonny Island, Onne, Okrika and Port-Harcourt.