The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has been exposed. Yakubu Galadima, lawyer to the whistle-blower that helped in the recovery of $43.5 million, £27,800 and N23.2 million at No. 16 Osborne Road, Flat 7B Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos disclosed that his client is yet to be paid his due reward five months after a court ordered a final forfeiture of the money.
Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman, EFCC
“The truth is that this guy has not been paid a penny. In fact, from April till date, the guy has been living under my meagre resources, his security was just zero. I’ve had to relocate this guy from one place to another so nobody knows his whereabouts.”
“The Ikoyi whistle-blower accompanied by friends approached me in early April this year informing me about their suspicion of a huge amount of money stashed away in one of the apartments at the Osborne Towers.”
“In fact, what came to their mind was to go and burgle the place since they know the security network of the house. I was the one that advised them that, you don’t do that because that will amount to crime. That since there is a policy of the federal government, let us exploit that avenue.”
“I took them, we went to the Commission, discussed with them, they said they were going to give the boy a form to fill and that if the story turns out to be false that the guy will go to jail. We said no problem, we undertook and we signed.”
“The next day, we went to the house, all of us were all shivering thinking there was nothing inside. And then we started to discover all sorts of money in different denominations, pounds, dollars, naira. These monies were all recovered and taken to the Commission. It was counted. They brought a staff of CBN and he came and counted the money.”
“The moment the final forfeiture was made, I wrote a comprehensive letter to Magu, attaching the judgement, and said court has made a final forfeiture, where is the reward and commission of the whistleblowers?”
“In fact, the letter was addressed to the Acting President then through the Office of the Acting Chairman since the money was recovered by the EFCC. That was the first letter.”
“A month later, I wrote a reminder. It was after that reminder that they said we should bring the boy to Abuja. We took the boy to Abuja, he had one on one interface for the first time with the acting president. We went together with the acting chairman. The acting president congratulated him for a job well done and that with the money they’ll pay him, he’s now a millionaire. We all laughed.”
“While I was out of the country on vacation, my client contacted me on the phone and told me about receiving threats to his life. The day we went to the office of the acting president, they gave him a number that he can reach them at any time. So he has been communicating with the acting president. Following the threats, they detailed some SSS to be working around him.”
“The whistle-blower was later taken to the SSS facility at Shangisha, Lagos, and given an apartment. Because the guy had always been looking forward to seeing his money and it wasn’t forthcoming, he started shouting. When he started shouting, they said he’s mad, that he’s having a mental problem.”
“The SSS people called me and said I should come and carry my luggage. They brought him to the EFCC and abandoned him there. The EFCC people called me that I should come and carry my client.”
Money recovered from the flat at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos
“On getting to the Commission’s office, I was informed of my client’s mental illness and plans to take him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba. I said he’s not mad, that it’s because you people are holding his money that’s why he’s reacting this way. They insisted the guy is mad, that they have to take him to a psychiatric hospital, they bundled this man. I said ok, if that’s how to prove that he’s not mad, no problem, we went to the psychiatric hospital in Yaba.”
“They injected him and said they have to monitor him for a month. They monitored him for a month. The day they were going to release him, the EFCC called me again to come and carry my “critical asset.” This was a boy I never knew from Adam….. I said ok, I went to the EFCC the guy said he’s ok there’s no problem anymore, they handed him over to me three weeks ago. Ever since then, I pay money into his account on a weekly basis for his upkeep.”
“On October 12, I wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari seeking the prompt payment of the commission due to my client. ‘I have written twice while you are away receiving treatment to the Acting President through the office of the Acting Chairman of the EFCC on 7th June 2017 and 24th July 2017 respectively’.”
“Please note that the discovery (of the money) was a result of my client’s efforts and consequently, I respectfully urge Your Excellency to use your good offices to facilitate the prompt payment of the reward/commission due to my clients.”
“Contrary to media reports that my client’s commission is N350 million, the correct figure is N850 million because the money discovered was about N17 billion and not N13 billion that is being declared. It was calculated as at the time the money was recovered.”
Meanwhile, while speaking at the 7th session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC acting chairman, said the individual who helped uncover the Ikoyi apartment money had become a millionaire.
“We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen one million Naira of his own before. So he is under counseling on how to make use of the money and also the security implication. We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride.”
– Source: PremiumTimes