N19.5bn Aviation Fund Probe: Borishade, Fani-Kayode arrested inside Senate - Occultic officials in aviation ministry behind plane crashes, says Fani-Kayode

Taiwo Adisa, Lanre Adewole and Idowu Samuel, Abuja - 01.07.2008

OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arrested two former Ministers of Aviation, Dr. Babalola Borishade, and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, as well as the former Director General, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Rowland Iyayi, shortly after their appearance before the Senate Committee on Aviation probing the management of the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund.

The three men had appeared before the committee, but only Borishade and Fani-Kayode testified before it. The public hearing had hardly ended at 6.25 p.m., when operatives of the EFCC stormed the lobby of the National Assembly to swoop on the trio.

Some of the operatives were waiting at the entrance of Hearing Room 1, venue of the hearing to watch the movements of the trio.

The three had hardly stepped out of the hearing room when the operatives swooped on them and guided them to waiting vans at the front entrance of the National Assembly.

While Borishade and Iyayi were driven away in a Hiace commuter bus marked Abuja AU 329 YAB, Fani-Kayode was driven in a Range Rover Jeep marked Lagos JH 820 AAA.

It was understood that they were being taken to the EFCC headquarters in Wuse area of Abuja. It was gathered that the ground for their arrest was prepared following the arrest of the Austrian, Mr. Georg Eider, whose company, Avsatel Ges MB H, Vienna, Austria, was allegedly involved in the inflation of the Safe Tower Project contract, from the initial N1 billion to N6.5 billion.

The Austrian was said to have made useful statement to the EFCC about the two ministers and the contract. Meanwhile, more revelations have been made as to why the ministers were arrested.

A top source within the commission revealed to the Nigerian Tribune that the two former ministers and the former NAMA MD, were indicted in a statement made to the commission by the incumbent boss of NAMA, Ado Sanusi.

He was reportedly quizzed last Friday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja. The source stated that “after the interrogation of the NAMA MD last Friday, he provided a good lead for us to pick those who were picked today” (Monday).

The NAMA boss reportedly gave the commission’s operatives information which allegedly indicted the former ministers and the former NAMA boss.

Meanwhile, those arrested might be arraigned today or Wednesday. The commission’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi confirmed that the former ministers were with the commission and would be charged latest Wednesday to meet the 48 hours required by law to charge them to court.

However, the Media Assistant to Fani-Kayode, Mr. Bayo Oladeji, in a statement, said his boss was not arrested by EFCC. In another development, former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Monday told the Senate committee probing the N19.5 billion scandal in the aviation sector that the air disasters recorded in 2006 were the handiwork of occult groups operating within the aviation sector.

The former minister said the bloodsucking cult group was also responsible for the difficulties encountered by the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in sanitising the aviation industry despite all efforts in that regard.

He said the air accidents which involved the Sosoliso Airline, ADC, Bellview, a military plane and the other air disasters which occurred in Kaduna all within a year in Nigeria were the handiwork of the occultists.

He told the probe panel that there were more to the air disasters than met the eye because some “demons from hell were involved,” adding that former President Obasanjo specifically appointed him to assist Nigeria in containing the incessant plane crashes.

He recounted the frustrations he encountered in his attempt at sanitising the industry, recalling that he once engaged the services of aviation experts from the United States to put a stop to the air disaster only for the efforts to be frustrated.

He recalled how his efforts to set up an independent public inquiry into the air disasters were frustrated by those he described as the dark forces, as he charged the Senate committee to facilitate the setting up of a public enquiry on the rot within the industry.

Fani-Kayode said he found it unbelievable that despite the huge misfortunes suffered by Nigeria in human and material terms from the air disasters, the federal government could not find anyone to hold responsible, a reason he said the problem had continued to persist.

“These dark forces simply did not care that the lives of innocent Nigerians were being endangered by their daily ritual of cutting corners in order to make a bit of extra money. They did not care that their habitual breaking of the rules and regulations would inevitably lead to a monumental and horrific cycle of bloodshed.

“Not only did they not care, but some of them actually enjoyed the prospect: What we were dealing with was a cruel and unconscionable blood cult who derived their power and strength from a frenzied and insatiable lust for blood.

“Is it not strange that not one person has ever been brought to book or held accountable for any of these crashes? No one has ever been sanctioned, indicted or even prosecuted for criminal negligence at the very least. That is how cheap life has become in Nigeria and that is how easily Nigerians forget. The truth is that the questions must still be asked —“What really happened in the Bellview crash?”

Fani-Kayode told the committee that in spite of the battles he had with the cult group within the industry, he was able to put in place some measures such that his tenure did not record a single plane crash.

The former minister washed his hands of the alleged misappropriation of the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund, claiming that he rather left N7 billion in the accounts of the ministry at the time he left.