N15Bn Ikoyigate: I Didn’t Receive Commission From EFCC -Whistleblower
The whistle-blower whose information led to the recovery of the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 belonging to the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) from Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday, denied receiving any compensation for his action.
The whistle-blower, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos through his lawyer, Yakubu Galadima, also disputed the N13 billion official figure made public by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claiming that the actual recovered sum was N17 billion.
He was reacting to a statement credited to the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, made in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday, that the whistle-blower is now a millionaire.
Galadima, who described the statement as an attempt to mislead the whole world, said that he had written a Letter of Complaint, on behalf of his client to President Muhammadu Buhari over the matter.
The lawyer also maintained that the EFCC has refused to pay or communicate with the whistle-blower since the money was discovered.
He said that the agency lied by saying the whistle-blower has been paid a whooping sum of N325million being 2.5 per cent of the $43million, N23.2million and £27,800 recovered from a flat at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi.
Galadima insisted that the actual total sum recovered in the apartment was N17billion, contrary to EFCC’s N13 billion claim.
He said, “The whistle-blower is still in hiding and he has not received a Kobo contrary to reports of the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, in Austria.
“My clients want to state in clear terms that the EFCC under-declared the loot found in the Ikoyi apartment and that the total money reported was N17billion and not N13billion declared.
“The total sum counted in a transparent manner was N17billion. The Central Bank of Nigeria officials were there with their counting machines. The monies counted, recorded and marked as exhibit in the presence of stakeholders was N17billion and not N13billion as it is being claimed by the EFCC.
“The whistle-blower is being fed and clothed by me. He is in hideout and the EFCC does not know his whereabouts, and has not made any correspondence with him up till this moment.
“We had written letters to President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malamute on this issue but no concrete action has been taken to reward the whistle blowers.
“We are using this opportunity to debunk the claim of Magu that the whistle-blower is now a millionaire. We want to tell the whole world that he is in penury. The EFCC neither rewarded nor fed him. As at today, we have not received any communication from them since the discovery.”
Galadima lamented that his client was unjustly treated by the anti-graft agency, as he was used and dumped after the commission was led to the Ikoyi apartment.
The solicitor said that he advised his client to do the right thing, when he was approached by the client that there was a large sum of mony running into billions in the apartment, that they would enter the place and collect their own.
He said that he had urged the whistle-blower to follow the path of law through the policy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Galadima noted that the continuous denial of whistle-blowers their reward would impact negatively on the anti corruption war of the government.
