Armed Attack on Lawyer Linked to Unexecuted Amnesty Contract Suit

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Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

Ex-militant leaders under the aegis of the Reintegrated Ex-Militants Forum (REF) have attributed the last Wednesday armed attack on a home located in Kubwa Extension II Area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to an attempt to assassinate one of the lawyers involved in the ongoing suit at the Federal High Court over alleged unexecuted contracts with links to the vandalised N60 billion Presidential Amnesty Programme Training Complex in Boro-Town, Kaiama, Bayelsa State.

The target is representing 124 beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) that went to court to ask to be joined in stopping the illegal payment of over N3.8 billion to 15 companies over alleged unexecuted contracts.

The armed attack on the residence of the lawyer in Kubwa extension II area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) left one security guard dead and three others injured. The ex-militant leaders in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd.), the Department of State Security (DSS), and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Usman Baba, alleged that despite the fact that the targeted lawyer survived due to his attendance at the last Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Lagos. 

The attempt is condemnable and should be investigated.

The 124 Amnesty Beneficiaries had applied to be joined in the suit filed by Mr. Jacob Aminu Momoh, and 15 contracting firms against the PAP to pay for an alleged unexecuted contracts above the tune of N3.8billion, plus 21 percent post–judgment fees, and special damages which can go as high as N5billion to N8billion.

 They have also accused officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice led by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, of colluding with Mr. Jacob Aminu Momoh, and the accused companies in alleged attempts to frustrate their suit at the courts.

The REF, in the petitions signed by its National Coordinator, ‘General’ Tony Ebikalaide also known as “Black Spider” and made available to newsmen in Yenagoa at the weekend, stated that “the lawyer had in a few days prior to the day of the incident spotted a black Range Rover tailing him and had received a phone call from the petitioner’s legal team to ascertain his whereabouts for service, but events turned for the worst during the early hours of the morning, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.

“Alleged hired assassins wearing face masks had stormed the secured residence of the lawyer in a community in Kubwa, F.C.T. Abuja and neutralised four security guards with one dead, three in critical condition.

“But despite the resistance, they refused to retreat, rather they forced their way into the secured building and broke-down the front door of the lawyer’s home while shouting ‘where is the lawyer?, where is the Barrister?’

“The scared lawyer’s wife was home alone because the barrister was still in Lagos after the NBA conference, but when they could not find the lawyer, they took a few items worth less than ₦10,000 to make it look like a rubbery, and with the increasing noise outside, they hurriedly departed the premises.”

 Ebikalaide stated that, according to the lawyer, “in the seven years of his living in that community, and in their secured building, that was the first time in that community that such a tragedy had occurred, and it’s not a coincidence that his compound, especially his house in particular was attacked.

He said that he has neighbors all around his building, and there are multiple bigger homes and compounds without any fence or security barriers before getting to his compound and building.

But they chose his building and house in particular while shouting “where is the lawyer, where is the barrister to his scared wife who was home alone.”

Ebikalaide also pointed out that “it was on that same day in the evening, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 that Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo, the former Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) died,”

It might interest the general public to know that the lawyer representing the 124 Amnesty beneficiaries against the ₦3.8billion suit in alleged unexecuted Amnesty contracts had planned to subpoena Dokubo to testify in court on how he signed and awarded the multi-billion naira contract to the plaintiffs without passing through due process and using doctored documents. Well, it is unfortunate that Prof. Dokubo will not be able to speak about these approvals anymore.”

The REF also accused the staff of the Federal Ministry of Justice of alleged suspicion of compromise to frustrate the suit filed by the ex-militant leaders to prevent the illegal payment for unexecuted contracts above the tune of N3.8billion, plus 21 percent post–judgment fees, and special damages which can go as high as N5billion to N8billion.

“The officials in the judiciary are busy sabotaging the amnesty office’s efforts in court by redeploying experienced legal officers from the amnesty office in order to deprive the amnesty office from putting in proper representation in court.

 “At present, the PAP has neither legal adviser nor an experienced legal officer at a time when there are pending cases worth billions of Naira that could bankrupt the PAP.

“While the legal team of the 124 Amnesty beneficiaries is submitting genuine documents in court to defend the cases, the plaintiffs are boasting of compromising officials in the Ministry of Justice and anti-corruption agencies, detailing their non-remittance of Pension funds of over 200 amnesty consultants in over two years.

 “In a previous petition submitted to the EFCC, the petitioners stated with documented evidence of alleged suspension of payments into the Retirement Savings Accounts of the consultants even though the 18 per cent deductions were deducted from the consultants salaries.

“The result of these inglorious acts amounts to a breach of the Pension Act 2004 cited above, with dire consequences. The EFCC refused to act despite the consultants’ pension funds non-remittance documents submitted to them.”

The reintegrated ex-militants in their petition to the President, vowed to take matters into their own hands in the way they “know-best,” because they claim to have lost faith in the security agencies to do their jobs without being compromised by alleged criminals. They also vowed to have a “showdown with officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice.”