WE DON'T WANT IKOYI WHISTLE-BLOWER TO RUN MAD - ITSE SAGAY

The Chairman , Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption , Prof . Itse Sagay ( SAN ) , says the Federal Government does not want the whistle - blower who informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of the N13 bn in an Ikoyi apartment to run mad .

Sagay said the government believed he needed to be adequately counselled and this was the reason his commission was delayed.

The senior advocate said this during an interview with our correspondent on Monday .

Sagay said if the commission , which the whistle- blower claims is N860 m , was given to him immediately; he probably would have squandered it within a month or two .

Sagay said , “What I gathered from my inquiry is that the man is not sufficiently stable to receive such a huge sum of money. He is like someone who will almost run mental when he gets the money and will use it in an irresponsible manner , attracting not only undesirable people but even danger to himself .

“ I think what they wanted to do for him was to provide counsellors. Not just counsellors for character and mental situation but counsellors who would be like consultants that would help him to really invest the money and plan in such a way that he doesn ’ t throw it away in five minutes.

“ They are trying to help him . Nobody is denying him anything . They are trying to help him but he just misunderstands the intention and like everyone that has been deprived for a long time , he is so desperate to have it but from what I can see , if they just give him everything , it won ’ t last more than a month or two because so many people will start finding ways to get to him and taking their portions from him . So , they were just trying to help him but he became hysterical . ”

Sagay hailed the Federal Government’ s decision to pay the whistle - blower in tranches , adding that such a method of payment would deter him from spending it all at once .

The PACAC chairman said it was also the responsibility of the government to ensure that the whistleblower did not become a nuisance .

He added , “ It is better to pay him in tranches . I agree with the government because if not , he will throw it away. This is valuable money that government could have used for millions of unemployed and wretchedly poor people.

“ One man is getting it and he just wants it so that he can blow it all in five minutes? No , the government has a responsibility to see that his excitement does not end in seeing the money being thrown away irresponsibly . So , I agree with the government . ”

The lawyer of the whistle - blower , Yakubu Galadima , however , said the government ’ s intentions were suspect .

Galadima wondered why the government did not question his client ’ s mental capacity when he was giving the EFCC information on the money .

The lawyer said even if his client was mental , he still deserved to be given his due .

He said , “ As far as I am concerned , if the money is not paid by the end of this month , I am ready to tell the whole world but if they act favourably , their image will be redeemed .

“ Does Prof . Sagay have contact with my client ? Doesn ’ t my client have relatives that can take care of him ? Even a mad man is entitled to his estate so what are they talking about ? That is not an excuse as far as I am concerned . ”

WHISTLE-BLOWER DENIES BEING PAID 5% FOR EXPOSING $43M IN IKOYI

The whistle-blower that gave information leading to the recovery of N13bn from Flat 7B Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, has denied having been paid five per cent of the recovered sum.

A lawyer, Yakubu Galadima, who claimed to be counsel for the unnamed whistle-blower, alleged on Friday that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has reneged on the promised fiver per cent.

The lawyer, who spoke with journalists on the premises of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Friday, described as untrue the claim by the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, that the whistle-blower had been paid.

A statement on Thursday by the spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Magu as saying in Vienna, Austria, that the “young man” who blew the whistle had already become a millionaire.

“We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen N1m of his own before.

“So, he is under counseling on how to make good use of the money and the security implication.

“We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride,” Magu was quoted as saying.

But Galadima claimed that the whistle-blower, his client had been abandoned, saying the EFCC did not even know his whereabouts let alone counseling him.

“The EFCC does not even know the whereabouts of my client. He is presently living from hand to mouth having been abandoned by the commission.

“We have written to the President and even to Magu himself and we have yet to get any form of response. I even sent Magu an SMS this morning debunking the allegation that my client has been paid; but as I speak, I have yet to get a response from him,” Galadima told journalists.

The lawyer said he had already written a letter dated October 10, 2017, to President Muhammadu Buhari in this regard but had yet to get any response from the presidency.

Our correspondent sighted an acknowledged copy of the letter marked highly confidential. It bore the stamp of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, indicating that the letter was received on October 12, 2017

N13bn Ikoyi cash: Whistle-blower may get N325m reward

There were indications on Thursday that the man who informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of the $43m, N23.2m and £27,800 (N13bn) recovered from an Ikoyi apartment in April, may be given about N325m in the light of the Federal Government’s whistle-blower policy.

The whistle-blower policy states that any whistle-blower whose information leads to the recovery of over N5bn will attract a 2.5 per cent reward.

The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who did not disclose how much would be given to the whistle-blower, said the commission was already counselling him on how to spend the money.

Magu, while speaking at the ongoing 7th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption holding in Vienna, Austria, said the whistle-blower was a man who had “never seen N1m in his life.”

He, therefore, called on Nigerians who want a positive change in the country to take advantage of the whistle-blower policy.

The EFCC boss said aside from contributing to the eradication of corruption, potential whistle-blowers would also benefit from the illicit acquisition by the looters.

Magu said, “We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who had not seen N1m of his own before. So, he is under counselling 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 taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride.

“So 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.”

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos and presided by Justice Muslim Hassan had on June 7, 2017 ordered the final forfeiture of the total sum of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218, 000 to the Federal Government which means all legal hurdles have been crossed.

The money, which belongs to the National Intelligence Agency, has since been deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Recovered $43m: Court orders temporary forfeiture of Ikoyi flat

Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of Flat 7B Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 were discovered in iron cabinets and “Ghana-must-go” bags in April. The money is said to belong to the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA).

The court ordered the forfeiture of the building to the Federal Government yesterday following an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

On June 7, Justice Muslim Hassan of the same court ordered the permanent forfeiture of the fund recovered from the apartment.

EFCC had on April 13 obtained an interim court order temporarily forfeiting the funds to the Federal Government.

Justice Hassan granted the interim order and gave 14 days for anyone interested in the funds to appear before him to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

But on May 5, 2017 when the matter came up, no one came before the judge to claim the money.

However, a private legal practitioner, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje, who is also counsel to the suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a Evans, appeared before the judge with an application urging the judge to suspend the final forfeiture proceedings pending when a three-man panel constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari in relation to the funds would submit its report.

The panel, headed by the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was to probe the claim and counter-claim of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency and Rivers State Government to the funds.

But the EFCC opposed Ogungbeje’s application and urged Justice Hassan to dismiss it and go ahead with the forfeiture proceedings.

Ruling on the application, Justice Hassan upheld the EFCC’s submission and dismissed Ogungbeje’s application for lack of merit. The judge described the application as totally strange, noting that having not appealed against the interim forfeiture order, Ogungbeje had no right to seek a stay of proceedings in the case.

The judge, who noted that Ogungbeje was not a party in the suit filed by the EFCC, described the lawyer as a meddlesome interloper and a busybody, adding that his application was strange to law.

In an attempt to recover the fund, the EFCC named the wife of the sacked director general of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Folashade Oke, as the owner of the flat.

The anti graft agency said it found out that Mrs. 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, Master Ayodele Oke Junior, were directors.

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

The EFCC 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 N360,000,000, and subsequently paid it to Fine and Country Limited for the purchase of the property.