Military regime did not steal $400 million, government says

Presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has described as "false and mischievous" allegations that the military administration of General Abdulsalami Abubakar misappropriated 32.5 billion naira (US $400 million) just days before leaving office, `The Guardian' reported on Wednesday. AFP, quoting the `Vanguard' newspaper, had reported Energy Minister Bola Ige as saying the military leaders siphoned the money on phony projects. Okupe said most of the media running the story also reported that the money was returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria because it was no longer needed. Senate president under probe The upper chamber of Nigeria's national assembly voted unanimously on Tuesday to probe an allegation that Senate President Evan Enwerem has a criminal record, which would disqualify him from his post, news reports said. `The Guardian' reported on Wednesday that the committees investigating the case - ethics and privileges, judiciary and security, and intelligence - had seven days, as of Tuesday, to report their findings. The House of Representatives is also debating the issue. The accusation against Enwerem appeared in the current edition of weekly news magazine, `TELL'. AFP reported the magazine as saying that Enwerem was convicted in 1945 of stealing while he was a revenue clerk under the colonial British administration. Enwerem's aides have denied the charges. One senator, Idris Abubakar, described the allegation of embezzlement and falsification of age as "not too pleasant", coming on the heels of the conviction of House of Representative speaker Salisu Buhari. However, Senator Arthur Nzeribe, who said he knew Enwerem very well,`The Guardian' reported, stressed: "I can state emphatically that he is not an ex-convict and any investigation will turn out negative." Ex-Representative speaker fined US $20 Buhari received a 2,000-naira (US $20) fine or 12 months imprisonment for forgery and perjury, for which he was convicted last week, news reports said on Wednesday. Passing judgement on Tuesday, Chief Magistrate Mohammed Kolo of the Abuja Chief Magistrate's Court said he imposed a light sentence because Buhari was a first-time offender and had pleaded guilty. Buhari, who was 29 years old, had said he was 36 in order to meet the 30-year minimum age to be speaker of this house. He also claimed, falsely, to have attended the University of Toronto, Canada. Buhari resigned two weeks after admitting claims by the media that he lied in order to serve in the assembly.