How OBJ got 17 plots of land in Abuja, says Director - Sold Atiku's guest houses to El-Rufai, others April 22, 2008 | posted by Mobolaji Aluko (Archives)

 

 

THIS DAY

‘VP’s Guest Houses Sold to el-Rufai, Osuntokun’
•Obasanjo has 17 plots, ex-FCT minister 8, says AGIS •Panel summons Housing minister

From Sufuyan Ojeifo in Abuja, 04.22.2008

More revelations have emerged at the public hearing on the sale of Federal Government houses in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Director of Special Duties in FCT and Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the sale of the houses, Alhaji Abbas Umar, yesterday disclosed that his committee sold three guest houses belonging to former vice-president Atiku Abubakar to some top functionaries of the immediate past president Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime.

Those who bought the houses were former FCT minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai; former Special Adviser to Obasanjo on Political Affairs, Chief Akin Osuntokun, and former Managing Director of Abuja Investments Company, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijani, who is also el-Rufai’s in-law.

Umar told the Senate committee probing the sale of the houses and other related matters that the sale of the property was approved by Obasanjo and that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had been briefed on the sale.

He disclosed that the guest house situated at No.16 Mambilla Street, Maitama was sold to el-Rufai while the ones at No. 32 Suleiman Barau Street, Asokoro and No.12 Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro were sold to Tijani and Osuntokun respectively.

Cross examined by the committee, Umar said there was a presidential approval to sell the property and that they were sold to the beneficiaries because they were given the rights to match the reserve price(s).

He could not provide off hand the exact sums for which the houses were sold, maintaining that the details were already contained in the report submitted to the Senate committee by the ad hoc committee on the sale.

According to him, “We have presidential approvals from both former and present ministers to sell the guest houses. They were sold on the presidential approvals granted by former president and the current president has been briefed.”

Umar said the guidelines were very explicit, adding that the guest houses were not sold for a long time until approval was given to do so.

“We have different letters by which we got presidential approval. We modified payment timelines seven times and on each occasion, we went back for approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” he added.

Also yesterday, the Senate committee summoned Messrs Cyril Ezeamaka and Babajide Adetoba who worked in the office of the former minister, el-Rufai, to appear before it to explain how they ended up being in possession of 67 Certificates of Occupancy (C of Os) on the eve of their exit from office on May 29, 2007.

A member of the committee, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, who called attention to the issue said: “Mr. Cyril Ezeamaka who worked in the former minister’s office is shown here as having collected over 50 C of Os.

“Adetoba also collected C of Os.  Between the two of them, they collected 67 C of Os dated May 28, 2007.  In fact, over 50 of the C of Os were dated May 28, 2007.

“They should be here to explain their role in the collection of the C of Os.  We want to know whether they were agents of the general public collecting C of Os.”

It was learnt that the committee was working on the premise that they might have been fronts for the former minister (el-Rufai).

The General Manager of Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), Dr. Ismaila Iro, also presented to the committee yesterday land policy files on Obasanjo, el-Rufai and Senator Abubakar Sodangi, the chairman of the Senate committee probing the sale of the houses.

According to the policy files, 17 plots (including three plots bearing the name of Obasanjo Farms Limited) were listed in favour of Obasanjo while eight and three plots were listed in favour of el-Rufai and Sodangi respectively.

Making his presentation, Iro said: “I have here policy files on land titles being held by the Chairman of this Committee, Senator Abubakar Danso Sodangi. What I read out when I appeared before this committee last Thursday was the list of allocations bearing Sodangi.  I queried the name but I did not query Sodangi as a person.”

He went ahead to read out nine allocations with Sodangi as their last name and each of the files was scrutinized in the open and three of the files were confirmed to be Senator Sodangi’s.

Sodangi had last week, in reaction to the claim that he and his family members had 20 plots of land, stated that he had only three plots.
Iro said based on the last name of el-Rufai, he was able to access eight land policy files bearing the name (el-Rufai), adding that, “based on the last name of Obasanjo, we have 17 plots and there are three of them belonging to Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited.”

He told the committee that the policy files were called up from the AGIS database by way of query, stating that, “this is what we have but the list is not exhaustive yet.  The exercise is going.  Some may not be listed in their names.  It is on-going and this thing has to be intelligently done.”
The committee asked him to come tomorrow with more details on the policy files as well as those of other Nigerians. 

Meanwhile, the probe panel has summoned the Minister of Housing, Mrs.Halima Tayo-Alao, to appear before it to shed light on the sale of Games Village and National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) houses.

This was consequent upon the disclosure by the chairman of the ad hoc Committee and Director of Special Duties in the FCT Ministry, Alhaji Abbas Umar, that the FCT administration under el-Rufai sold NDIC houses and the Games Village without remitting proceeds from the sale to the agencies.

The committee was told that the Games Village, which hosted athletes for the All Africa Games in 2003, was sold on behalf of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Sodangi said the committee had decided to summon the Housing minister to appear before it to shed more light on the issue.

The committee chairman queried the decision by the ad hoc committee to sell houses belonging to NDIC and the Games Village without making remittances of the proceeds to the owners.

Umar had told the committee that remittances to the agencies were supposed to have been done by the Finance ministry.

He also disclosed that the NDIC Managing Director, Chief Ganiyu Ogunleye, and the present Minister of State (Energy) were beneficiaries of the sale.

According to him, “We sold the houses to their staff members. Only a few could qualify for the sale, but I can confirm that the MD bought and even the present Minister of State (Energy) bought as well.

“At this moment, we have not been able to remit any money to them but the Finance Ministry was supposed to do that. We’ve not sold plots of lands belonging to NDIC. We sell only developed lands.”

Asked on the proceeds of all the sale of Federal Government houses, Umar, while presenting the report covering his era and that of Dr. Abdul Mukhtar, said Mr. Jimi Lawal would best explain his own role.

According to him, “When I was posted to join the ad hoc committee on the sales, I met him there as one of the consultants and I was drafted to head the evaluation unit.

“I don’t know how he came into the committee and what he was being paid.  I was just doing my job.  He was a consultant as well as the chairman of the Implementation Committee at the Secretariat.”

The committee said that Lawal had questions to answer and had indicated that he would be invited to appear before it.

But Ade Okeaya-Inneh and Co, solicitors to Lawal, said yesterday that they were ready to present their client if summoned by the committee.
In a letter of April 14, 2008, and addressed to Sodangi, the counsel to Lawal said: “he (Lawal) is currently in the United Kingdom and will be willing to attend the current public hearing if his presence is required.”

Umar had told the committee that 23, 711 houses were sold since inception of the sale of Federal Government houses in July 2005.

He said that from inception to date, a whopping N96. 736 billion had been realised from the process.

According to him, “The sale proceeds are still coming in and people are still paying on daily basis.”

He said N1.8 billion expenses had been made from inception to date.

Umar listed bank charges to stand at N214 million, N34.295 billion as total proceeds, N45.4 billion available balances in the various general accounts N17.019 billion in the facility accounts (Mortgages) while there was N62.498 billion as balance in the various accounts.
He told the committee that 514 civil servants who defaulted in their payments terms as at March 20, 2008 were ejected, adding that 26 civil servants were ejected after paying the 10 per cent.

He said that the committee had 198 cases in court in connection with the sale of houses, adding that, “some of them have been concluded and some are still on, while we make attempts to settle some out of court.”

On the ejection of the late Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Bashir Sambo, in the face of a restraining court order and his conversation with Mr. Nuhu Goro, he said: “We had a series of meetings on the eviction issue.  I was the only civil servant… I suggested that since we had two buses each lawyer should accompany each of the buses.

“I did not receive any call from Nuhu.  It was only the chairman who could stop eviction. He was not to answer to me or report to me.  Nuhu was the one who was supposed to be feeding the chairman of the ad hoc committee on the progress of the eviction.

“I had nothing to do with money…However, it was my responsibility to withdraw letters of offer and I did sign letters of offer withdrawals to Sambo and thirteen others.”

Asked by the Committee the details of the houses that were yet to be sold, he said “122 houses are remaining for sale…. And they are mostly in Rubochi and Gwagwalada,” adding that, “3, 500 houses in Nyanya are to be demolished because the FCT wants to rebuild the area.”

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THE NATION

el-Rufai’s aides got 67 plots, panel told         22/4/2008
      

From Gbade Ogunwale,
Abuja

Two aides of former Federal Capital Territory Minister Nasir el-Rufai were allotted 67 plots of land in the FCT, the Senate committee probing land deals during the el-Rufai era was told yesterday.

Certificates of Occupancy for 50 of the plots were issued to the two aides, Cyril Ezeamaka and Babajide Adetola, on May 28, 2007 – a day to the exit of the last administration.

The revelation was made in official documents submitted to the Senate probe panel.

Apparently miffed by the claims, the chairman of the investigation panel, Senator Abubakar Sodangi, ordered the two former aides to appear before the committee to explain whether they got the plots for themselves or on behalf of others.

In his testimony, the chairman of the adhoc-committee on the sale of Federal Government houses in Abuja, Mr. Umar Abbas, told the panel that three guest houses attached to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar were sold without regard to due process.

He said the three guest houses were sold each to the former political adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Akin Osuntokun; el-Rufai and one Tijani Abdullahi without going through competitive bidding process.

Abbas told the Senate panel that the former Vice-President was not given an opportunity to bid for any of the guest houses.

General Manager of the Abuja Geographic Information System, Mr. Ismaila Iro, who also testified before the panel yesterday officially confirmed Obasanjo’s ownership of 17 plots of land and eight plots by el-Rufai, all in Abuja.

The AGIS boss told the panel that the list was not exhaustive, as his agency was still looking into the records to see if more plots of land could be traced to Obasanjo and el-Rufai.

Iro refuted reports in several newspapers (excluding The Nation) last Friday linking Sodangi with the ownership of 20 plots of land in Abuja.

Tendering official documents to support his claims, he said Sodangi had only three plots, out of which he had sold one.

Quoting from the different newspapers that carried the report, Iro expressed disappointment over what he described as deliberate distortion of facts as contained in the reports.

"I felt embarrassed by the version reported in the media. I never said that Senator Sodangi had 20 plots of land. I only read out owners of nine plots from our records whose last name happened to be Sodangi. But these people are not necessarily related to Senator Sodangi. I don’t know how they came about 20 plots that they reported," he said.

Meanwhile, a close associate of el-Rufai, Mr. Jimi Lawal, has written the Senate panel stating his desire to appear and testify before the panel.

Lawal, who ran from the law following the 1995 failed banks saga, wrote through his lawyers, Ade Okeaya-Inneh & Co. He informed the committee that he was willing to answer questions on his roles in the sale of Abuja houses.

The defunct Alfa Merchant Bank got distressed while Lawal was its Managing Director. He managed to escape the long arms of the law during the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime by fleeing the country.

But el-Rufai appointed him chairman of the ad-hoc committee charged with the sale of Federal Government houses in Abuja for two years, between 2003 and 2005.

The letter dated April 14, 2008, indicated that though Lawal is currently in the United Kingdom, he would like to attend the hearing.

Entitled Senate Committee Hearing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the letter, which was made available to newsmen yesterday, read in part: "We are solicitors to Mr. Jimi Lawal and we have his instructions to write to you with regard to the above mentioned.

"Our client is currently in the United Kingdom and will be willing to attend the current public hearing if his presence is required. Please kindly let us know if Mr. Jimi Lawal would be required to attend this hearing."

Lawal, who acted as consultant to the FCT under the administration of el-Rufai, has been named in several transactions during the last administration of the FCT.

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THE SUN

 El-Rufai revoked Atiku’s house and gave himself – FCT director
By BASHIR UMAR, Abuja
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

As intriguing revelations continue flooding the ongoing public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on FCT, the Director in charge of the sales of government houses, Mallam Abbas Umar revealed Monday that former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai had revoked the allocation of property No. 16 Mambilla Street, Maitama, which belonged to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and gave himself.

He also disclosed that former Minister of Works, Chief Tony Anenih had purchased many houses on behalf of the Ministry, “which are now .mysteriously missing, because they had been defaced or converted into guest houses, but we are still trying to trace where they are located”. He told the Committee that up to the moment he was talking, the FCT was discovering more houses within the Federal Capital City.

“The Federal Government had bought houses during the tenure of Chief Tony Anenih as Minister of Works and I have so far discovered 76 such houses which have been defaced as guest houses and we are still discovering them” Abbas disclosed, pointing out that a total of 21, 528 houses were put on sale while only 122 have remained unsold.

In addition, el-Rufai also revoked and allocated house No. 22 Suleman Barau Crescent, Asokoro,to his brother-in-law, Tijjani Abdullahi while house No. 12 Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, was grabbed by Special Adviser (political) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, all in violation of the FCT guidelines section 4 which rules that no official of the Ministry should be favoured.

At the time of revocation and reallocation of the said plots, Malam El-Rufai was the Minister of the FCT while his in-law the Managing Director of the Abuja Investment and Property Development (AIPD), Umar submitted, agreeing that what he did as el-Rufai’s hatchetman, was a violation of the rule of law.
Abbas Umar also admitted revoking the late Justice Bashir Sambo’s allocation letter but not ejecting him.He denied violating any court order restraining him from his actions on Sambo’s property, arguing that “only the Minister and Mr. President have the power to order ejection”.

He also denied receiving any telephone call from one Nuhu Goro on the restraining order not to eject Sambo, who was the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, pointing out that eviction order in questions were carried out on 13 houses occupied by public functionaries.
“I withdrew Justice Sambo’s offer along with 13 other Chief Executives, and I never acted as Chairman of the Sale of Houses at all, because even when the Chairman traveled out we used to receive orders directly from the Minister through his private secretary, but I took over effective in October, 2007,” Abbas revealed.

On whether he ever received any court order restraining him from taking an action on the sale of houses, he admitted that he got such order on the NNPC Housing Estate, in spite of which, he said, he still went ahead to revoke, pointing out that “I will still revoke more plots”.
Daring Abbas told the Committee that apart from houses occupied by individual civil servants, he had cause to revoke estates belonging to corporate bodies like the NDIC, PHCN, NNPC and many others, pointing out that even that of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had escaped “because they had sold to their staff before we came in”.

In defiance of the incumbent Minister Aliyu Modibbo’s submission that there had been 800 pending court cases, 76 of which bordered on violations of court orders, against the FCT, Abbas said he was aware of only 198 cases, submitting that “numerous” civil servants were ejected from their houses even after showing relevant documents that the houses belonged to them.
Asked to explain who Jimi Lawal was to the FCT at the time of they had worked together, Abbas Umar claimed that he did not know him much deeply, “apart from being my boss and as Chairman of the sale of houses and a Consultant for the FCT, because I only received orders from him and I met him there in 2005.

“I don’t know much about him, I don’t know how he had remitted monies or to which accounts and I couldn’t ask him because he was my superior”, he explained.
Answering another question on property he owned, Abbas said: “I have bought one house by my right, which I could not pay till I sold my plot”. But he went further: “I own a total of 4 houses in my life; one in my hometown, Jalingo, and one each in Karu, Yanyan, and Durumi, all in Abuja .

Also testifying, the former Special Adviser to FCT Minister Nasiru El-Rufai on Special Duties, Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, said a total of 23000 hoses had been sold between September 2005 and May 2007 at a cost of N96.736 billion out of which 75% went to the Central Bank while the remaining 25% was retained by the FCT. He said N62.49 0f the money was kept in various accounts.

On the issue of 36 landed properties allegedly owned by Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abubakar Sodangi and Senator Smart Adeyemi, Mukhtar promised to tidy up the allocations properly and present the authentic list for proper verification, even as Sodangi reassured that they would make el-Rufai explain where he got the list.

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TRIBUNE

How OBJ got 17 plots of land in Abuja, says Director - Sold Atiku's guest houses to El-Rufai, others

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 22.04.2008

IT was a revelation in Abuja on Monday as the General Manager of the Abuja Geographical Information System, Dr. Ishmaila Iro, disclosed how former President Olusegun Obasanjo got 17 plots of land in Abuja.

Also, the Director of Special Duties in the FCT, who is also the chairman of ad-hoc committee on Sale of Federal Government houses, Alhaji Abass Umar, disclosed that the former president ordered the sale of the guest houses of his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

While presenting documents on plots allocated to Obasanjo, Iro said that 17 plots (including three plots in the name of Obasanjo Farms Limited) were listed in favour of Obasanjo while eight and three plots were listed in favour of El-Rufai and Alhaji Abubakar Sodangi.

Umar also on Monday told the Senate Committee on FCT that he presided over the sale of three guest houses used by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to former Minister of FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; former political Adviser to the President, Mr. Akin Osuntokun and Alhaji Abdulahi Tijani.

A close source to the former minister, however, denied that the houses were sold to spite Atiku. Umar, who stated this in a testimony he gave before the committee, said that the third person, Alhaji Tijani, who got one of Atiku’s guest houses, was the former Managing Director of Abuja Investments Company.

He said that the sale was approved by former President Obasanjo. He said that President Umaru Yar’Adua had been briefed on the sale.

Umar told the Senate committee that another guest house situated at No. 16 Mambilla Street, Maitama, was sold to el-Rufai while the ones at No. 32, Suleiman Barau Street, Asokoro and No. 12, Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, were sold to Tijani and Osuntokun respectively.

When questioned by members of the committee, Umar said that there was a presidential approval for the sale of the house. He stated that the beneficiaries were given the right to purchase the houses when they were given the right to match the reserve prices.

“We have presidential approvals from both former and present ministers to sell the guest houses. They were sold on the presidential approvals granted by the former President and the current president has been briefed.”

Umar said that the guidelines were very explicit, adding that the guest houses were not sold for a long time until approval was given to do so.

“We have different letters by which we got presidential approval. We modified payment timelines seven times and on each occasion, we went back for approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” he added.

The committee has summoned Messrs Cyril Ezeamaka and Babajide Adetoba who were aides of the former minister to defend how they collected 67 Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) on the eve of their exit from office of the former minister on May 29, 2007.

Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, a member of the committee who called attention to the development, said: “Mr. Cyril Ezeamaka who worked in the former minister’s office is shown here as having collected over 50 C of O.

“Also, Babajide Adetoba also collected C of O. Between the two of them, they collected 67 C of Os dated May 28, 2007. In fact, over 50 of the C of Os were dated May 28, 2007.

“They should be here to explain their role in the collection of the C of O. We want to know whether they were agents of the general public collecting C of O.”

Meanwhile, an associate of Mallam el-Rufai, Mr. Jimi Lawal, has written the Senate Committee on FCT seeking to appear before the committee.

Lawal, in a letter by his counsel, Ade Okeaya-Inneh & Co, sent to the Chairman of the Senate Committee, said that he was willing to appear before the committee.

The letter, signed by Ade Okeaya Inneh and dated April 14, 2008, indicated that though Lawal was currently in the United Kingdom, he would like to attend the hearings of the Senate Committee.

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DAILY TRUST

 2 el-Rufai aides got 50 plots ... on May 28       

Written by Abdul-Rahman Abubakar and Ayegba Israel Ebije  
Tuesday, 22 April 2008


Two aides of then Federal Capital Territory Minister Malam Nasir el-Rufai were allocated 67 plots of land, out of which 50 allocations were given to them less than 24 hours to the expiration of the Obasanjo regime’s tenure on May 29, last year. This was revealed to the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory yesterday at the on-going probe of the FCT ministry in the years 1999-2007.

Cyril Ezeamaka and Babatunde Adetobe, who are both civil servants working in the Minister’s office, received 67 plot allocations in various parts of Abuja, 50 of them on May 28, 2007 the committee heard.

Senator Ewa Henshaw, who demanded for appearance of the duo before the probe committee said: "Cyril Ezeamaka and Babatunde Adetobe, between the two of them they collected 67 certificates of Occupancy (Cs of O), 50 out of the allocations are dated May 28, 2007. It is either they are agents of the general public or if they are Ministry officials, how come they are the principal characters coming to collect the documents?" The committee therefore ordered the two officials to appear before the committee to explain their roles in the land grab with only a few hours left for the then minister to vacate office.

At the same hearings yesterday, FCTA officials said both former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his successor Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua approved the   sale of three guest houses assigned to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Testifying before the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) probing activities of past administrations in Abuja, Director Special Duties overseeing sale of FCT houses Alhaji Abbas Umar and his predecessor, Dr. Abdul Mukhtar, said Obasanjo gave presidential approval to take the houses from Atiku and to be sold to some officials of his government.

According to Alhaji Abbas, government ordered the revocations "because there were too many guest houses in Abuja. The 3 guest houses were sold to former FCT minister Nasir el-Rufai, former Senior Special Assistant to Obasanjo Akin Osuntokun and former Managing Director of Abuja Investments Company, Alhaji Tijjani Abdullahi."

El-Rufai bought Atiku’s guest house at No. 16 Mambilla Street, Maitama, Abuja. Osuntokun got the one at No. 12, Yakubu Gowon Crescent while Abdullahi was given the guest house at No. 32, Suleiman Barau Crescent, Asokoro without recourse to due process.

Asked if due process was adhered to in the process of sale of the guest houses, Alhaji Abbas said: "We had presidential approval in council to wave off our regulations in the sales. It was specific that they were asked to match a reserved price."

A member of the Senate committee, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw queried the process of reallocating the properties saying, "You had presidential approval to put the guidelines aside and sell those houses. Did the presidential approval also waive the need to bid for them? Or did the approval also say there is no need to bid? Your regulations say there have to be bids and then the sitting tenant is asked to match the highest bid, but those people were never sitting tenants in the houses."

Alhaji Abbas confirmed that both Obasanjo and Yar’Adua approved violations of the guidelines for the sale of FCT houses in the case of the 3 guest houses belonging to the former Vice President, which were sold to el-Rufai, Osuntokun and Abdullahi saying, "They were not given allocation. they were asked to match the reserved price. There was no bidding. It wasn’t every house that must be put for bidding. We give political office holders, they were all political office holders, we gave them right to match the reserved price. It was a council resolution that all subsequent sales are done on reserved price, no more advertisements."

On the ongoing sale of houses in the FCT, Alhaji Abbas said 122 houses are available for sale, excluding 3,500 houses in Nyanya which are to be cleared to give way for modification. He told the Senate Committee that so far 23,711 houses have been sold in the FCT which has generated N96.7 billion while N19.6 billion has been transferred into government account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Alhaji Abbas also said a balance of N45.5 billion remains in various bank accounts after payments of refunds (N6.1 billion) and expenses of N1.8 billion.

On the issue of eviction of late Justice Bashir Sambo from his official residence, Abbas denied earlier presentation by leader of the eviction team, Nuhu Goro who claimed that the eviction was carried out despite a court restraining order with his approval.

Nuhu told the committee that when the team got to Sambo’s house they were confronted with a court order restraining them from evicting the late judge, but said he contacted Abbas on phone, who ordered that the eviction should on in disregard of the court order.

But Abbas said, "I am totally denying that I spoke to Nuhu. I did not contact him and I never ordered him to go on with the eviction, he was on schedule to do as his official duty."

He however agreed to have approved the withdrawal of allocation of the residence to late Justice Sambo saying, "I signed the withdrawal of offer to Sambo and 13 others because the federal government withdrew their allocations."

The Senate Committee has ordered for invitation of Nuhu Goro to testify alongside Alhaji Abbas in its bid to ascertain the official that ordered disobedience of court order in eviction the of late Justice Sambo.

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