Be like the Ikoyi whistleblower, ‘benefit from the illicit acquisition by looters’- Magu

Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has called on Nigerians to emulate the whistleblower whose tip-off led to the discovery of the large cash stash in an apartment in Ikoyi, adding that the “young man” was now a millionaire..

Magu stated this in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, revealed in a statement.

Uwujaren said Magu spoke at the ongoing 7th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

The EFCC spokesperson quoted Magu as saying that the whistleblower was already a millionaire by virtue of the percentage he was officially entitled to.

Read also: Court orders forfeiture of Ikoyi Flat 7B where EFCC found $43.4m

“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 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”, he said.

The EFCC boss called on Nigerians who want a positive change in the country to take advantage of the whistle-blowing policy announced by the government early this year.

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

“So, we encourage more whistleblowers 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, ” Magu said.

On April 7, EFCC operatives broke into a four-bedroom apartment on Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, and pulled out $43m, £27,800 and N23m stashed in a wardrobe.

The commission said the discovery followed an operation triggered by a whistleblower’s alert received by its Lagos office.

On June 7, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos ordered the final forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.

The apartment where the monies were discovered was also earlier today temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government on the order Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

 

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