He has been in Nigeria for 49 years, moving in big circles. But he has only one picture on the internet! Majed Ali Ta’an, the Lebanese Managing Director of Alibert Products Nigeria Limited, makers of home, office and school furniture, is an enigma, and it suits his profile that he would be embroiled in a criminal case that has several twists and turns, now tilting towards a scandalous subversion of justice.
On December 6, 2023, a Federal High Court in Kano presided by Justice Muhammad Nasir-Yunusa, issued a warrant of arrest for Ta’an, after his counsel, who earlier promised to produce him in court failed to keep the promised.
Taan had failed to appear in court five times when his case came up for hearing. The police had sued him for “wilfully and maliciously” setting fire on a building at No. 5c Murtala Muhammed Way, Kano which he used as a furniture showroom in order to make “fraudulent insurance claims.”
The two-storey building was leased to the Lebanese in 2019 for 10 years at an annual rent sum of N15million. According to the terms of the lease, the tenant was to “fully insure” the premises against fire and theft during the period of lease. The tenant also agreed to indemnify the lessor(landlord) “in the event of a fire outbreak caused by the negligence of the Lessee, its agents.”
According to documents seen by NewsNGR, Ta’an allegedly took insurance on the building at Consolidated Hallmark Insurance PLC, Lagos where Alibert’s headquarters is located, without indemnifying the landlord, which was a breach of the lease agreement. But the landlord of the building, one Abdul-Hadi Almustapha, was unaware of this fact at the time.
Barely two years into the lease, precisely on December 20, 2021 a mysterious fire razed the building around 1am. Taan immediately rushed to the insurance company on the same day to file a fire insurance claim for Alibert Products Nigeria Limited. In the claim form, Ta’an blamed the fire on “transformer fire.”
The Lebanese is asking the insurance company to pay him N470 million for the damaged building and N370 million for properties lost.
N370, 253, 485(three hundred and seventy million, two hundred and fifty-three thousand, four hundred and eighty-five naira) and another N217,000,000 (two hundred and fifty-seven million), spent on renovation of the building.
Police, Fire Service Indict Lebanese
But the Federal Fire Service Kano, which came to put out the last flame of the fire, did their own investigation and found that the Alibert MD had lied. In a report of the incident signed by Aliyu Muhamad Abdullahi, the state commandant, the Service stated that the fire incident was deliberate for the following reasons:
“The huge sound before the fire started; person found in the building during the incident; building collapsed as a result of the explosion and the empty bottle found at the scene where the building collapsed.”
Report of the incident by the Kano State Police Command also indicted Ta’an, and the Lebanese was subsequently charged to the FHC in Kano on 12 May, 2023, after one year of investigations that involved the police, DSS, Fire service and the Kano Electricity Distribution Company.
Ta’an was charged along with his alleged accomplice, one Mustapha Tiamiyu, who he allegedly used to ignite the fire.
Before the charges were filed against him, Ta’an did everything to ensure he was not taken to court. In a letter dated 14th March 2022, he informed the Inspector General of Police about a “false allegation” of arson against him and “bias investigation” by the Kano State Police Command, and urged the IGP to withdraw the case from Kano.
The IGP obliged him, asked the Kano Command to pause and reportedly requested the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) at the Force Headquarters to do their own investigation. But if Ta’an thought he had escaped justice, the report of the bureau’s investigation team said he had a case to answer in Kano.
In an investigation report dated 13th June, 2022, written to the IGP, and signed by AIG Habu A. Sani, the team confirmed and upheld the investigation carried out by the Kano command. The report said the investigation team visited the scene of the incident in Kano and interrogated all the parties.
It concluded by stating, “That in view of the above, coupled with the gross violation of Electricity Distribution Standard Safety Code, as a result of a makeshift structure that housed the generator, switch gear and a diesel tank by the petitioner, an act of negligence has been established .Above respectfully forwarded for your information and further directives.”
The IGP subsequently directed that the case file be returned to Kano for prosecution.
Kano CP Muhammed Usaini Gumel Tried To Kill The Case
The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Usaini Gumel, who was posted to Kano around the time the case was being filed in court, was allegedly bought over by Ta’an to kill the case. After barely settling down in his new station, CP Gumel wrote the Kano State Attorney General for “legal advice” on the case.
In the Attorney General’s reply, dated 18th October, 2023, seen by NewsNGR, he stated: “From the totality of evidence contained in the case diary, we are of the firm and considered view that there is an eyewitness account and strong circumstantial evidence pointing at no other person than the suspects(Ta’an and Tiamiyu), and the evidence disclosed a prima-facie case with good prospects of securing conviction for the alleged offences against suspects.”
But CP Gumel ignored the advice he sought from the attorney general of Kano and asked the police CID to withdraw the charges against Ta’an. Counsel to the complainant had opposed the application, saying only the AGF had the authority to withdraw the charges against the accused persons.
Justice Nasir Yunusa eventually frustrated CP Gumel when he ruled against the application and ordered that Ta’an be brought to the court on February 12, 2024- the next adjourned date.
That was why Ta’an never appeared in court for the five times the case came up, forcing Justice Nasir-Yunusa to issue a warrant for his arrest on December 6, orderingthat he be brought to court on the next adjourned date of 12th February.
But instead of showing up in court, he got busy in Abuja where he’s said to have connection in high places, especially among the top echelon of security agencies and the Ministry of Justice. Lawyers and police officers familiar with the case told NewsNGR that the Lebanese had boasted he would kill the case and dropped names of influential persons such as Solomon Arase, Chairman of the Board of the Police Service Commission (PSC), IGP Kayode Egbetokun and top officials of the Ministry of Justice, among others.
What’s Ministry Of Justice Doing?
Ta’an got the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja to intervene in the case, and on the 8th February this year, the ministry wrote FMJ office in Kano requesting it to take over the prosecution of the case pending review of the case file by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.” The letter was signed on behalf of the minister by M.B Abubakar, director of public prosecution.
One week after the DPP’s letter to Kano, the reason for the intervention became clear. Ta’an rushed back to the insurance company to inform them that the case against him had been struct out.
In a letter he addressed to the MD of Consolidated Hallmark’s Insurance PLC, dated 16th February,2024, Ta’an stated in the second paragraph: “It is our pleasure to inform you that the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has since taken over the case and upon review, the AGF deemed it necessary to discontinue the matter. The charge was therefore withdrawn and struck out by the court on 12th February 2024…”
He concluded the letter by stating, “In view of the above, we urge you to immediately process and pay what is due to us.” The letter was signed by Ta’an and a director in his company, Henry Williams.
But Ta’an deliberately lied to the insurance company so he could fraudulently obtain the claims on a property that does not belong to him.
When NewsNGR contacted the Head of the DPP at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice in Abuja, T.A. Gazali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he said he was unaware of the case. While replying a WhatsApp message, he said, “Unfortunately, I am hearing this for the first time as I am in civil appeals department and have nothing to do with criminal cases except specifically directed to handle, of which I have not been asked to handle this case. Kindly refer the inquiry to the office of the dppf.”
NewsNGR also contacted Kamarudeen Ogundele, spokesman for the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who requested details of the case to enable him provide informed response. When he was given particulars of the case, he asked for time to make enquiries.
The next day, he sent a whatsApp message to our correspondent admitting that the case was not yet terminated. “The DPP has requested the case file from the police,” he stated. “The right thing will be done after a thorough review upon receipt. It is a blatant lie and a cheap blackmail to say anyone has been bribed. The ministry’s involvement in the matter is to ensure Justice, no matter who is involved.”
Ogundele’s response seemed to indicate that the DPP, which requested since 8th February that the criminal case against Ta’an in Kano be discontinued to enable a review, was yet to get the case file nearly three months after.
There’s Plot To Subvert Justice
Okechukwu Nweze, one of the prosecution lawyers, also told NewsNGR that the DPP was yet to write a request for the case file after terminating an on-going trial. Speaking in obvious anger about the role of the DPP in the case, he said, “There’s no evidence that the DPP had requested for the case file.
“Yet they hurriedly sent their representatives from the ministry of justice in Kano to come to the court and terminate the charge that was in court. The reason they gave was that they want to look into the case file. But without seeing the case file they already went ahead and terminated one that was already in court, which the honourable attorney general of Kano state had already given a report on.
“We’re not allowed to speculate. But as far as I’m concerned, and this is my 34 years in practice as a lawyer, some of the things we’re seeing in this case is novel. It’s extremely novel. Especially when you see and hear the statements being made by the defendant (Ta’an).
“The kind of things he says, shows that there are some things going on behind. There is a script written behind that is being played out. He has said it in open places, even in the presence of the Kano state commissioner of police.
“Let me give you example, he has gone ahead to write the insurance company to release the money for claims to him. The statement he made to the company was that the case has been terminated. Where did he get the audacity to do such thing?”
According to Nweze, they got to know that Ta’an had gone ahead to request for insurance claim after the withdrawal of the case because the insurance company informed them.
“Ta’an went and used the DSS to arrest the insurance people so that they should release the money to them. It is the insurance company that got us involved in it. They had to file a case against the DSS.
“So, when the DSS sought to compel the insurance company to release the money by force, the insurance company got in touch with us. The landlord of the house was also invited by the police and DSS several times,” he revealed.
Ta’an’s Lawyer Silent On Client’s Character
Yahaya Isah of Dikko & Mahmoud Chambers, who represented Ta’an during the court appearances in Kano, told NewsNGR during a WhatsApp chat that the criminal case against his client was struck out by the FHC in Kano, stressing that “the charge has been terminated by the office of the AGF.”
When told that the office of the AGF denied that the case was terminated, but would be reviewed, he refused to comment.
Again, when asked to volunteer an opinion about the character of his client, he declined, stating “Is this an appropriate question you should ask me as a professional journalist?”