THE leadership of the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) are currently under the investigative beam of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged fraud and mismanagement of the union’s funds running into billions of naira, National Record can authoritative report.
At the moment, the National Treasurer of the union, Comrade Ahmed Yahaya, has been interrogated.
Comrade Lateef Idowu Oyelekan, NUFBTE President, is billed to be grilled by a team of EFCC operatives on Thursday.
Between Thursday and Friday last week, the anti-graft agency questioned Comrade Yahaya at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja where he was invited to following a petition by an aggrieved member of the union who was said to have provided valid information on alleged fraud.
National Record gathered that the allegations of fraud were so solid that the Chairman of EFCC, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, had to personally set up a team of forensic operatives to investigate the accounts of the union since Comrade Oyelekan assumed office over 15 years ago as president.
Comrade Yahaya was said to have been granted temporary reprieve to leave EFCC custody last week after he was said to have been guaranteed by a Permanent Secretary.
Calls, text and WhatsApp messages to Comrade Yahaya were not responded to since afternoon were not responded to as at press time.
Also interrogated by EFCC operatives last week is NUFBTE’s Ogun State Council Chairperson, Comrade Abiodun Abe Philips, for several hours before he was unconditionally allowed to leave.
Comrade Philips’ interrogation, National Record gathered, was for the anti-graft agency to gather more information with regard to internal financial processes, financial regulations and inflow of check-off dues in the union in order to have insight on the degree of fraud that might have allegedly taken place.
Though he confirmed being invited, Comrade Philips declined comment when asked on the nature of investigation. He asked the reporter to call EFCC.
EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, when called to find out if the union officials are being question and the nature of the interrogation, said he does not have the information.
Comrade Oyelekan, NUFBTE’s President, and NUFBTE’s Chairperson of Lagos State Council One, a staff of Coca-Cola, and who is believed to be Oyelekan’s right hand man, Comrade Adetona Oluwatoyin, are due to appear before anti-graft operatives on Thursday, June 16, 2022 for interrogation at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.
Comrade Oyelekan confirmed to National Record the interrogation of Comrade Yahaya, NUFBTE’s National Treasurer, via telephone on Wednesday. He equally confirmed his invitation and readiness to appear before the EFCC on Thursday, although he said he has not officially received an invitation or the reason for the invitation.
When asked why he was going to the EFCC when he had not been invited, he simply said he was being a good citizen, before he added that he was told by Comrade Yahaya to do so.
He also said when he arrives Abuja tomorrow, he will go to NLC headquarters as he is Vice President of NLC from where somebody will take him to EFCC.
Comrade Adetona Oluwatoyin did not pick his called when called Wednesday evening press time.
Ministry of Labour under searchlight too
The investigative net has also been thrown wide as EFCC operatives also last week interrogated the Registrar of Trade Unions, Mr Falonipe Amos, over the finances of the Food Union. Mr Amos confirmed his interrogation to National Record Wednesday afternoon in a telephone chat.
The Registrar of Trade Unions said he was asked many questions on the regulatory powers of his office over trade unions including their finances. According to him, the Ministry of Labour does not directly oversee the accounts of unions but only receives reports of external auditors once every year by July as required by law.
“What we do is that the law says their [unions’] account must be audited every year by an external auditor and the external auditor will submit the report to our office. You know, me I took over about two years ago and they have been submitting reports. If I just brought out their file, the only one that has not been submitted is last year’s, because the law says it must be submitted July of the following year…like for instance, 2021 must be submitted July 2022.
“That is what the law says and the external auditor is not part of the union, so they are the ones that will audit and when they submit to us, we just look at the comments of the external auditor. That is the only regulatory power that we have over the unions,” Mr Amos stated.
Fraud may run into billions
An impeccable source in the union who is very familiar with the allegation of fraud and the investigation by the EFCC told National Record there some element of panic has gripped the entire national leadership of the union since the interrogation of the National Treasurer.
“There is panic in the union now. Comrade Yahaya, after he was released, told some people that he had pleaded with Oyelekan to settle the crisis but he had remained adamant, and that now, the questions being asked by the EFCC are very hard questions,” the source said.
According to the source, preliminary investigation by the EFCC has already unearthed huge fraud amounting to over N1.3 billion.
The source also noted that some millions of naira found have been traced to an Ikoyi, Lagos-based hotel linked to a highly placed top official of Ministry of Labour and Employment.
While the official bank account of Comrade Oyelekan is said to have been scoured and only about N4.3 million found in it, the EFCC forensic investigators are said to have hit gold in a bank account stashed with about N.3 billion.
“It is this discovery that is probably the behind the directive by the EFCC chairman for his men to thoroughly investigate the fraud. We heard that after speaking to our National Treasurer, the EFCC decided to extend its invitation to Comrade Oyelekan and his right hand man, Comrade Tonye [Adetona], who is the guy in charge of all Oyelekan’s projects. They may also have found some property but we in the union do not know the full details for now,” our source stated.
Lingering petition
National Record gathered that there had been a petition to the EFCC branch in Lagos by Comrade Peter Onoja who was a National Signing Trustee of the Food Union for two terms before the Oyelekan leadership first expelled him from the union at the beginning of the current crisis, and subsequently had him sacked from his employment using redundancy.
Oyelekan was said to have written a counter-petition and Onoja was invited and in the course of investigation, it was Onoja that was perpetually being persistently invited by the EFCC officials in Lagos rather than Oyelekan.
A source said the headquarters of the EFCC got wind of Onoja’s petition and what was happening in its Lagos office, and that fortunately, it got the direct attention of the EFCC Chairman who then personally gave directive for a forensic investigation.
The EFCC is said to have in addition to the alleged fraud in the union also gathered information with regard to series of disobedience of court orders by the leadership of Oyelekan, his disregard of decisions of organs, the National Assembly and the presidency, and all efforts to use internal trade union mechanism to settle the crisis.
When contacted, the General Secretary of the Food Union, Comrade Mike Olanrewaju, said he was not aware of the investigation as he had been out of the country and was only just arriving at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.
