In a twist of fate, whistleblower becomes instant millionaire

.He’s undergoing counseling as he has never seen a million naira before -EFCC

.Court orders temporary forfeiture of flat with N13bn cash

In what can be referred to as uncommon miracle, the fortune of a Nigerian who blew the whistle leading to the discovery of humongous cash of N13 billion inside a flat on Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos has now been transformed.

Today, he is now a millionaire, courtesy of the whistleblower policy of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as he is entitled to official five per cent of blowing whistle leading to the discovery of biggest cash in a private home.

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, disclosed this development on Thursday in Vienna, Austria at the ongoing 7th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Magu also stated that the “young man” who blew the whistle on the looted fund has suddenly upgraded to the status from poverty to a millionaire by a mere act of patriotism and information sharing.

According to the EFFC boss, the discovery followed an operation triggered by a whistleblower’s alert received by its Lagos office.

Magu added that the whistleblower was already a millionaire by virtue of the percentage he was officially entitled to.

The spokesman of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, also quoted Magu as saying that, “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 good use of the money and also the security implication.

“We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taken delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride”.
The EFCC boss also called on Nigerians who want positive changes in the country to take advantage of the whistle blowing policy announced by the Federal Government early this year.

He stressed that aside from contributing to the eradication of corruption, potential whistle blowers also stood to “benefit from the illicit acquisition by the looters”.

On the need for more whistle blowing to recover looted funds, Magu said: “We encourage more whistle blowers to come forward with genuine information that will lead to recoveries from looters of public treasuries. That is part of the ways we can put an end to the looting madness in the public sector.

“When they know that they have no place to keep the loot, as all eyes are on them, they will find looting of public treasuries unattractive.

Before now, the Federal Government had in July, through the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adesoun, announced that it had released about N375.8million for payment of 20 whistleblowers who provided information leading to the recovery over N11.6 billion.

The whistle blower policy states that the whistle-blower will get between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the recovered loot, provided that “there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided”.

The Daily Times recalls that on April 7, 2017, EFCC operatives broke into a four-bedroom apartment on Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos and pulled out $43million, £27,800 and N23million cash (about N13 billion) in a wardrobe.

Though the sacked Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayodele Oke, was said to be laying claim to the humongous cash, the agency did not file any application to challenge the interim forfeiture of the money.

Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos later ordered the permanent forfeiture of the money to the federal government

But the discovery of the fund generated a lot of controversy leading the Federal Government to set up a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to unravel the circumstances surrounding the fund which was hidden a private apartment allegedly belonging to the NIA.

Oke reportedly claimed that the money which was disbursed by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan was meant for a security project.

Oke further alleged that the current National Security Adviser, General Babagana Munguno, was duly informed of the cash, when he took over as the NSA.

It was further gathered that the projects for which the former President approved the funds totalling $289million included two in Lagos whose cost were put at about $28 million, which is way less than the $43million cash found in the Ikoyi apartment.

Oke, who was suspended for the matter to be investigated, has since been sacked by President Buhari
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday ordered the temporary forfeiture of Flat 7B Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the said N13 billion was stashed.

The EFCC had identified Folasade Oke, wife of the sacked director-general of the NIA, as the owner of the flat.
The anti-graft agency said Oke made a cash payment of $1.658m for the purchase of the flat between August 25 and September 3, 2015.

She was said to have purchased the property in the name of a company, Chobe Ventures Limited, to which she and her son, Ayodele Oke Junior, were directors.

Payment for the purchase of the flat, according to EFCC, was said to have been made to one Fine and Country Limited.

They further stated that Mrs. Oke made the cash payment in tranches of $700,000, $650,000 and $353,700 to a bureau de change company, Sulah Petroleum and Gas Limited, which later converted the sums into N360million and subsequently paid it to Fine and Country Limited for the purchase of the property.

Myke Uzendu, Abuja and Peter Fowoyo, Abuja