Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has been fingered in the on-going controversial ‘ghost fund’ retrieved, week ago, from an apartment in Ikoyi by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
A retired employee of the NIA told the Daily Trust on Thursday that the N15 billion seized by EFCC was part of the monies channelled by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan through the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for his party’s 2015 campaigns,.
Ibrahim Ibrahim, who retired from the NIA 2006 as deputy director and worked closely with Oke, said though Jonathan approved the monies to be distributed to PDP chieftains, the embattled Director-General of the agency, Ayo Oke did not do so for unknown reason.
“A lot of things have happened; a lot of public officers have actually drifted away from the disciplined course and as a result so many things have happened. The NIA is not an exception at all,” Ibrahim said.
“I think what really happened was that the money was issued to the agency (NIA) just in the same way it was given to the NSAs office.
“President Jonathan approved $289 million or so in November 2014 in excess of the approved budget of the agency.
“So, that excess was intended as campaign funds and the agency, the DG NIA in particular, was supposed to disburse the fund but along the way, he found a way of diverting even that one for his own private use,” Ibrahim said.
EFCC operatives on Thursday last week seized $43.4 million, £27,000 and N23 million from an apartment at Osborne Towers building in Lagos.
The NIA claimed the money belonged to it and that it was using the apartment as a safe house. This made President Muhammadu Buhari to set up fact finding committee to look into the issue surrounding the cash and placed the NIA DG, Ayo Oke on suspension.
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