There is a now a bizarre twist to the millions of cash discovered by the EFCC in a secret building located in Ikoyi as the NIA
has claimed ownership of the cash.
The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke has claimed ownership of the millions of dollars found hidden in a house in Ikoyi, according to Sahara Reporters.
Oke said the funds were given to the agency for its covert operations.
It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday
broke into the apartment in Ikoyi and made the huge discovery.
According to Sahara Reporters, EFCC sources said they were now aware that the Director
General of the NIA claimed ownership to the huge amount of cash – most of it in US dollars – because the NIA was going to use
it for “covert operations.” The EFCC sources said they would not immediately respond to
the claim from the NIA since their
investigations are still ongoing, adding that a court in Lagos had given them an order to confiscate the funds.
Some EFCC operatives involved in the investigation said they are alarmed by the NIA’s claims because the apartment where
they seized the funds had no NIA
paraphernalia and that some of the currencies found in the apartment were scattered in the wardrobe. They said the
only “covert operation” they could think of would be an honesty test to determine if the EFCC operatives would tamper with the
funds Several commentators have said the latest twist by the NIA might suggest that the owner or owners of the funds are powerful
members of the Buhari administration or somebody with close ties to the administration.
A source at the President’s office stated Thursday evening that the EFCC had submitted an interim report to President Muhammadu Buhari on the cash scandal
that has dominated local and foreign coverage of Nigeria for more than two days.
According to the source, Mr. Buhari
instructed the EFCC to lodge the funds in the Central Bank pending the conclusion of investigations.
When the President was informed of the claims that the money belonged to the NIA, the source said Mr. Buhari was “alarmed at
such claim saying that he did not expect any Nigerian government agency to keep government funds in a private house, no matter the nature of its operations.”
However, the DG of the NIA, Mr. Oke, reportedly met with President Buhari last night to state his side of the story. During
the meeting, he presented documents to back up the claim that his agency owns the
money in a project that had been certified, approved and funded by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Mr. Oke
told the President that the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno was fully
briefed about the project and its progress.
The meeting ended with President Buhari asking Mr. Oke to reapply for fresh funding for the project while the EFCC deposits the
funds at the Central Bank of Nigeria for now.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami was said to be present at the meeting however when SaharaReporters reached him on phone this
evening he claimed he had not been officially briefed to get involved in the matter. He said he was at the Presidential
Villa yesterday to see Mr. Buhari but that his visit had no “official” bearing with the NIA issue.
Also, speaking anonymously with
SaharaReporters, a top NIA official denied that the agency had made a formal claim for the haul of cash. He said he had not been able to reach the DG today to “confirm or
deny” press reports that the NIA was laying claims to the funds. He asked our reporter to send questions via text messages to enable him to get a response from the DG of NIA. As of press time, he continued to plead that he
had not been able to reach Mr. Oke. Even so, he expressed surprise at the swiftness with
which a report emerged linking the NIA to the funds.
Meanwhile, two of the whistleblowers who alerted the EFCC to the funds said their lives
could be jeopardized, as they had no security protection.
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