N13bn Cash Discovery: Fayose Faults NIA’s Claim Of Ownership

…says alleged cover up rubbishes FG’santi-graft
war Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose has
faulted claimsby the National Intelligence Agency
(NIA) that the N13 billion cash just discovered at
Osborne Towers, Lagos belongs to the agnecy,
alleging that it was nothing but a cover-up and
that the development has only succeeded in rusbishing the Federal Government’s anti-graft
war. He said: ” Yesterday, it was made public that the
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) claimed
ownership of the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,
218,000 seized on Wednesday by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from
Osborne Towers, a luxury residential complex in Ikoyi, Lagos. ” This, to my mind is one cover-up too many and
this federal government seeming plot to protect
the original owner of both the money and the
apartment where it was found has further shown
that the anti-corruption fight is political, selective
and therefore a ruse. ” Nigerians should recall that I have consistently
maintained that the APC-led federal government
was not fighting any corruption. Rather, the
government is using the anti-corruption fight as a
major political tool to cripple opposition and turn
the country to a one party state. ” Therefore, for once, the federal government
should operate with the mind-set that Nigerians are
no fools. They are capable of asking questions and
they are already doing that. Some of the questions being asked are ,who is the
owner of the apartment in which the money was
found?, does the apartment also belong to the
NIA?, if the apartment belong to the NIA, when
was it bought and from whom,j f the apartment
does not belong to the NIA, from whom and when was it rented?,how could a whistle-blower
be aware of movement of money into one out of
many apartments in a building without knowing
the owner of the apartment, if truly the NIA was
carrying out a “covert operation” as claimed, was
President Muhammadu Buhari not briefed of the so-called “covert operation” when he took over
power?, was the National Security Adviser (NSA),
whose office controls all intelligence agencies,
including the EFCC and DSS not aware of the
“covert operation”?, was there any security
presence at the vicinity of the apartment to suggest that it was being used as warehouse for
over N13 billion cash belonging to the NIA?, does
NIA need an unprotected apartment to keep such
huge sum of money purportedly meant for
“covert operation”?, how much was released for
the so-called “covert operation”, how much has been spent and to who was account rendered up
to date? As for me, the script being acted on this
discovered cash is a cover-up that will mar the
EFCC and the federal government. It is a movie
well scripted for some alawada (comedians) but
acted so badly. It is case of a dog that has been eating other
people’s children to the admiration of its owner
suddenly attacking the beloved son of the owner’s
friend and they are now trying to cover-up the
dog owner. It is a major test of the integrity of the APC federal
government’s so-called anti-corruption fight, and
the earlier the proponents of the cover-up plot
come back to their normal senses and tell Nigerians
who owns the apartment in which the money was
found, the better for them. In the last few weeks, we have been served with
dramas of recovery of funds by the EFCC.
N49 million in cash ranging from N200 to N50 was
said to have been found in Kaduna Airport and
was promptly “arrested” by EFCC officials. But up
till now, Nigerians have not been told the identities of those who brought the five sacks in which the
cash was found into the airport despite the
presence of CCTV cameras at the airport. EFCC also fed Nigerians with tales of recovery of
N448,850,000 (Four hundred and forty eight
million, eight hundred and fifty thousand naira)
cash from a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza,
Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos. We
were told that the shop had not been opened for two years and one wonders how the cash got into
the shop. Up till today, EFCC is yet to tell Nigerians the
identity of the owner of the shop and Nigerians
are asking whether or not the Legico Shopping
Plaza, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos is
not owned by anyone and the owner of the Plaza
won’t be able to identify his or her tenant. As for this latest drama, which has boomeranged,
even though we know that the APC-led federal
government has the capacity to sweep it under the
carpet like many others before it, Nigerians will
have it on record that they are being ruled by a
government of “the more you look, the less you see.”