$50m Ikoyi Money: Questions NIA DG Ayodele Oke must answer over claim of ownership – Reports

‘NIA DG never briefed President Buhari since 2015 about any ‘covert projects’ approved by Jonathan’

Oke had never mentioned any discreet project being executed by NIA since he started holding security meetings with the President in June 2015,” the official said.  …“He never mentioned anything of this nature to the President in private either.  For him to be coming up with this story in April 2017 – for the first time – there is a clear case of an attempted cover-up.”…Gordon Obuah, the Chief Security Officer to Jonathan from 2010-2015, died suddenly on Thursday after a “massive heart attack”, leading to speculation that he might also have known about the funds.

Four days after the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered and recovered huge sums of money detailed as $43m, 27 Pounds Sterling and N23.3 million from an Osborne Road, Ikoyi house in Lagos and Director-General of Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke, laid claim to the monies as belonging to his agency, revelations have started coming out which put question marks on the claim of the NIA boss.

Although names of some prominent Nigerians including former Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Muazu, and a managing director of NNPC sacked over her indictment on missing petrol, Esther Nnamdi, were mentioned, the NIA DG’s claim appears to be giving the right clue to where the monies actually came from.  Where Esther Nnamdi debunked the story of her ownership of the monies, the PDP ex-chairman and former Governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Muazu only admitted that he owned the house initially but that he had sold it out in flats before a long time ago.

While the EFCC was working on theories for determining who the owner of the money was, the Director-General of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, appointed by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2013 but retained by President Muhammadu Buhari even as he changed all the service chiefs he inherited from the Jonathan administration, came forward with the boldness that the monies belonged to the security agency that he leads.

Oke had, as an underground move, reportedly told Magu while the operations were about to be carried out that there were “sensitive documents” in the Osborne house and therefore pleaded the operations be aborted.

The circumstances surrounding Ayodele Oke’s approach to the matter smacked of doubts leading to the EFCC’s acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu’s insistence that the operations must continue and in the end, monies calculated to be over $50 million were recovered.

A national daily reported following the recovery of the monies that the NIA’s DG said he warned Magu against the operations and demanded that the monies be returned to NIA being, according to him, that former President Jonathan approved the sums for some “covert projects”.

But, in an exclusive report by an online media (not The DEFENDER), the claim by NIA DG Ayodele Oke of funds approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan have been dismissed as it has been said that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) never briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on its ‘covert projects’ being supposedly financed with the monies recovered from the Ikoyi flat, presidency sources were quoted to have said.

This has further raised suspicion that the monies were being warehoused for individual use and not for official purposes as claimed by Oke.

However, government insiders have informed the online media that “it is a cock and bull story”.

“It is impossible, probably treasonable, that a security agency will be carrying out covert operations without the knowledge of the sitting President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces,” the sources said.

“The President has been in power for nearly two years now and not once did the NIA DG mention any such project to him, either at security meetings or one-on-one.

“From what we know so far, funds were indeed approved by Jonathan for the agency in late 2014.  But like the monies released for Boko Haram operations, the funds were diverted for non-security use.  That is why they ended up in a private residence.

“It appears the funds were diverted for the 2015 elections but some smarter guys kept part for personal use.”

Sensitive documents

Ayodele Oke, the NIA Director-General, was appointed by Jonathan in November 2013 and retained by Buhari, even though he replaced other security chiefs in August 2015.

While the Ikoyi operation was underway on Wednesday, Oke was reported to have run to the office of Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC chairman, to inform him that there were “covert” security funds in the flat being searched by the operatives.

However, the online media understands that Oke only told Magu that there were “Sensitive documents” in the house and pleaded that EFCC should abort the operation.

A security official who spoke on the matter on Friday said “that was what gave away the game”.

Oke had never mentioned any discreet project being executed by NIA since he started holding security meetings with the President in June 2015,” the official said.

“He never mentioned anything of this nature to the President in private either.  For him to be coming up with this story in April 2017 – for the first time – there is a clear case of an attempted cover-up.”

Gordon Obuah, the Chief Security Officer to Jonathan from 2010-2015, died suddenly on Thursday after a “massive heart attack”, leading to speculation that he might also have known about the funds.

He was being investigated separately by the DSS over security funds linked to him and had his movement curtailed by the secret police in the last two years.

Unanswered questions

Several posers are being raised which further put a dent on NIA’s claims of ownership.

“To start with, if the President, if the National Security Adviser and if other security chiefs were never aware of covert projects until now, that in itself is a big problem,” another top official said.

“Second, if NIA needs such a huge among amount of money in Nigeria, it has enough safes in fortified offices to keep it.  It does not need an unprotected private residence without putting operatives on guard.

“Third, if a covert project was approved and monies were collected more than two years ago, are the projects still being executed?  Why was no progress report filed with the President? Budgets are released yearly and unspent funds are retired yearly.  There is also no record that the NIA sought exemption or got approval to keep the monies away from TSA.”

The source said the President is awaiting reports from the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno, before taking further action.