Sarki Maikankan Trying To Blackmail Me – Alhaji Samaila

CHUKA UBAH

Facts have emerged over the travails of the Chairman of the Alade Market Bureau De Change, BDC, Alhaji Abubakar Samaila, who was recently charged before the Federal High Court in Lagos over a transaction that took place nine years ago.

P.M. EXPRESS reports that Alhaji Samaila has cried out alleging that the charge at the FHC is a plot targeted to blackmail and tarnish his image by the police acting at the behest of one Alhaji Sarki Maikankan after a failed attempt to get him to forego money owed him by one Abdulmumuni Usman.

According to him, while in Cotonou, Benin Republic, about nine years ago, a client contacted him for forex. Abdulmumuni Usman who was with him in Cotonou at that time pleaded with him to be allowed to handle a particular transaction for a commission. A First Bank account supplied by Abdulmumuni was thus used for the transaction into which N156m was paid.

However, Abdulmumuni could not supply the U.S dollars equivalent of the money paid into the First Bank account. In fact, First Bank initially placed a “Do Not Debit” order on the account because the account had not witnessed such volume of inflow prior to the lodgment of the N156m.

Alhaji Samaila had to intervene before the ‘DNB’ order was lifted about three weeks after lodgment when First Bank was satisfied that the inflow was from a genuine source. He said at that juncture, it became clear that Abdulmumuni could not handle the transaction. Alhaji Samaila then decided to source for the U.S dollars himself more so as he had come under intense pressure to deliver as contracted by his client. Abdulmumuni caused N151m to be withdrawn from the account which was passed to Alhaji Samaila and kept N5m to himself. Abdulmumuni had tried every means possible including making threats to life and lodging fathom complaints at PSFU and other financial crimes agencies so as to coerce Alhaji Samaila to abandon his claim for N5m. His claims were investigated and Alhaji Samaila was cleared of any wrong doing.

When all his machinations failed and Alhaji Samaila had insisted he paid his N5m having  applied his personal funds to make up the required U.S dollars, Abdulmumuni recently contacted Sarki Maikankan and the table turned against Samaila. Sarki Maikankan brought his influence within the police circles to cage Samaila. At the police Interpol office at Alagbon, the allegation changed. Samaila was now being accused of having engaged in forex trade and failing to fully remit the agreed sum nine years after the transaction.

Sarki Maikankan had boasted loudly that he would bring his influence within the police to bear and torment Alhaji Samaila come what may. The plot was orchestrated to charge the matter at the FHC cognizant of the fact that the process of perfection of any bail is onerous and time consuming which inevitably lands any accused person at the Ikoyi Prison regardless of the bail conditions, the only exception being when bail granted on self recognition.

Alhaji Samaila had insisted he did not commit any crime and that the person he had the transaction with had never complained even up till now. But his antagonists led by Sarki Maikankan latched on his travails with Abdulmumuni and the inadequacies of the Nigerian criminal justice system to inflict hardship on him.
Alhaji Samaila was arraigned before the FHC and has been granted bail as efforts were being made to perfect his bail conditions.

P.M.EXPRESS efforts to speak with Sarki Maikankan over his involvement in matter failed as his aide said that he was not around to speak on the matter.