- There is controversy trailing ownership of the N850 million Ikoyi mansion recovery reward
- The whistle-blower for the recovery of s $43.4m, N23.2m, £27,800 from an Osborne apartment in Ikoyi
- Also three different men an lawyers are fighting for the ownership of the reward from the recovery
Two different men are currently in a fight for the N850 million whistle-blower's commission from the Ikoyi Mansion cash recovery.
Ownership of the cash took a new twist on Tuesday, November 14, when the principal whistle-blower, Stephen Sunday, alleged plot by some individuals to dissolve his entitlement.
Sunday while speaking to Vanguard said he led his two friends into the discovery of the stash of cash at the Osborne Mansion in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Also speaking, Sunday's lawyer, Yakubu Galadima, said he has already given the Nigerian government a deadline of the end of November to pay the reward.
Galadima said, failure by the federal government to fulfill its own end of the bargain will force his client to take legal actions.
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He further alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has subjected his client to psychotic drug which the commission claimed has cost about N250,000.
It was gathered that a legal which claimed to represent Sunday and two others -Abdulmumin Musa and Bala Usman - had petitioned attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami to pay the money to the three men.
But disowning the firm, Sunday's lawyer he is not party to the petition to the AGF.
Galadima said he was only representing Sunday and one other person simply identified as Usman.
He also acknowledged a third whistle-blower whom he did not name.
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He also denied reports that there were additional six names to the whistle-blowers who led the EFCC to the mansion.
Galadima said: “There is nothing like additional six names. It is just the imagination of some people. Since this issue started some people have called me to include their names. I didn’t know where they got my number from. Even there was a man that met me at the airport who said I should add his name."
As far as I am concerned, if my client wants me to add the names of all Nigerians I will do so. But if he did not, I will not do that.
My client was privy to the existence of the money. He informed his friend, (names withheld) who proposed that they should go and burgle the place. He even said that he would arrange a group of robbers that would assist in burgling the place, adding that no organisation can trace them.
This man even fought my client in Obalende and injured him. There is nothing like additional six people, all those things are sham. Everything happened in my presence. So, no one can contradict what I know.
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“In fact, I spoke with CNN this afternoon (yesterday) on the matter. Forget about the stories they are carrying about, if at the end of the month, they don’t pay my client, I will take the next action. If they had burgled the place, would they have seen the money? It is wrong to make a promise that will not be fulfilled. You can imagine the trauma that my client has gone through since April. I have relocated him to different states because his life is in danger.
“I am doing all these just to protect him. When they approached me that they wanted to burgle the place, I advised them against it, saying that there is a window which is the Whistle-blower Policy that could be explored.
If the boy was mad, would he have had the sense to tell the first person about it? He was not mad when he took them to the place where the money is. It is wrong for them to say that he is mad now after he has helped in unravelling the money.
The EFCC told me that they spent N250,000 on the purchase of drug for my client. They kept him in the hospital and were giving him injections. Who would experience that and will not feel traumatised? In this country, anyone that does not have anybody is in trouble," Galadima said.
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NAIJ.com earlier reported that the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Itse Sagay, said the Ikoyi whistle-blower was yet to paid because the federal government need to provide him with adequate counselling.
Sagay said the whistle-blower would have squandered the commission if it was given to him immediately.
He also said the federal government intends to pay the whistle-blower in trenches.
The EFCC stage a walk against corruption on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng
ROSY CREST
Wednesday 15 November 2017