It is clear from the above that the Defendant has not said that in relation to
any of the Transferred Funds in the Charge, he instructed Mr. Bubajoda to
remit Money to the Liaison Office through the Government House Account,
which according to him was different from the Security Votes Account.
This would have meant that Mr. Bubajoda being the Sole Signatory to the
Security Votes Account would have had to withdraw the requested Funds
from the Security Votes Account and pay them into the Government Account
for onward transmission to the Liaison Office Account. He may as well have
deposited the Monies himself directly into the Liaison Office Account. This
will no doubt have explained the reason the Defendant said that there was
no involvement of the Permanent Secretary in Security Vote Funds, and
could have explained why a Political Appointee could control Government
Funds in the manner he did. The Defendant did not state that Mr. Bubajoda
travelled to Abuja with him and so it all does not add up.
What else did not add up was when the Defendant stated still under CrossExamination that he could not remember telling the Court that he asked Mr.
Bubajoda to collect the Security Votes Fund. He could only remember telling
the Court that his Staff keeps Records of Security Spending, but could not
remember who he said the Staff was on the day of his testimony and added
that ALL Records are kept for Security Spending.
More baffling was when still under Cross-Examination, he was asked who
kept his Security Funds after its release by the Accountant General and his
response was that the Security Vote Monies were kept in the Government
House Safe, but he did not know who was in charge of the Safe at the
Government House. All he could remember is that when a need arose, he
requested for the Funds.
All these Flip-Flops by the Defendant make it rather complex to understand
exactly what recantation he settled on as the truth. The above Statement on
the Safe is contrary to his Express Directive in Exhibit PP and contrary to
his Statement that the Accountant General to the Government House
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