{"id":110383,"date":"2024-02-13T21:07:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T20:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment"},"modified":"2024-02-13T23:37:37","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T22:37:37","slug":"ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment","title":{"rendered":"Ex-SGF, Boss Mustapha exonerates self, Buhari from alleged $6.2m foreign election observers payment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, cleared former President Muhammadu Buhari and himself on Tuesday in Abuja of the alleged fraudulent payment of $6.2 million to foreign election monitoring observers.<\/p>\n

He said that the letter purportedly written and signed by President Buhari did not emanate from the Presidency, and another purportedly written and signed by him were forged documents.<\/p>\n

Mustapha made the clarifications on Tuesday while giving evidence in the trial of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.<\/p>\n

He said that the one, Jubrin Abubakar, who allegedly collected the $6.2 million cash on February 8, 2023, under the watch of Emefiele, was not a staff of the Office of the SGF and was not known to him.<\/p>\n

Mustapha faulted the purported two letters alleged to have emanated from the Presidency under Buhari and the SGF office, adding that the letters did not conform with the standard with which the Presidency and SGF write letters.<\/p>\n

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had alleged that Emefiele forged the letters to defraud the Federal Government to the tune of $6,230, 000 under the guise of making payments to some foreign election monitoring observers.<\/p>\n

Mustapha insisted that the issue of payment for either local or foreign observers is the sole responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and not any other federal government agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not privy to the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and cannot write the governor for the attention of the Director, Banking Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom mere looking at the purported letters, the headline down to the contents are defective. I am not aware of the contents of the letters because there was no Federal Executive Council approval for such a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mustapha said further: \u201cThe purported letter from the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation bears my name as the SGF. To the best of my knowledge, the letter did not emanate from the SGF office. If it did not emanate from the SGF office, then, I did not sign it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigerian government has no business with foreign election observers. That, I know as a fact, because I managed two election cycles. INEC has sole responsibility for the foreign election monitoring observers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the signature on the purported letter that emanated from the Presidency, it is a failed attempt at reproducing President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until the time I left office, I did not know anything about the transactions. All through my service, I did not come across the letter purported to have been written by Mr President.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn face value, and having served as SGF for 5 years and seven months, I can say this letter did not emanate from the Presidency for seven major reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong others, the seal of the Presidency does not carry a reference number. The seal itself is the authority. Federal Executive Council decisions are not transmitted by letters but by extracts after conclusions have been adopted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the custodian of FEC. The President will not refer FEC conclusions to me. In all the correspondences from the Presidency, President Buhari never ended with \u201cPlease, accept the assurances of my highest regards\u201d.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, further trials have been fixed for March 7, 11, and 25.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, cleared former President Muhammadu Buhari and himself on Tuesday in Abuja of the alleged fraudulent payment of $6.2 million to foreign election monitoring observers. He said that the letter purportedly written and signed by President Buhari did not emanate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":110382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[1570,2140,732,97,254],"class_list":["post-110383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-boss-mustapha","tag-buhari","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-SGF, Boss Mustapha exonerates self, Buhari from alleged $6.2m foreign election observers payment - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, cleared former President Muhammadu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-SGF, Boss Mustapha exonerates self, Buhari from alleged $6.2m foreign election observers payment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, cleared former President Muhammadu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-13T20:07:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-13T22:37:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/02\/sm_1707847197.116435.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"922\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"704\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ex-SGF, Boss Mustapha exonerates self, Buhari from alleged $6.2m foreign election observers payment\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-13T20:07:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-13T22:37:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\"},\"wordCount\":581,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/02\/sm_1707847197.116435.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Boss Mustapha\",\"Buhari\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/ex-sgf-boss-mustapha-exonerates-self-buhari-from-alleged-6-2m-foreign-election-observers-payment\",\"name\":\"Ex-SGF, Boss Mustapha exonerates self, Buhari from alleged $6.2m foreign election observers payment - 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