THE last has not been heard of the controversies surrounding the payment of the five percent commission to the whistleblower who gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, tips that led to the recovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 Euros stashed in an apartment at the Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos, on April 22, 2017.

This is because some persons who claimed to be the original whistleblowers have petitioned the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice.

Their petition was obtained and released to the media by PRNigeria on Tuesday, November 14.

Dated August 24th, 2017; addressed to the AGF and received on September 8th, 2017, solicitors to the claimants, No Limit Legal Partners, on behalf of Messrs Abdulmumin Musa, Stephen Sunday and Bala Usman, told the AGF that his clients by the workings of the EFCC had short-changed the whistleblowers by bringing others who were not the arrowhead of the whistleblowing.

The solicitors noted that “Our clients informed us sometime in December 2016 that three (3) of them voluntarily walked into the office of the EFCC at 15A Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos and gave vital information that led to the recovery of over N13 billion at the Ikoyi Towers, Lagos.”

The lawyers further told the AGF that “upon subsequent visit to give a detailed information as required by the commission to raid the Tower, they were told if the operation was successful, 5% of the amount recovered will be their take-home within 72 hours of recovery, they were also cautioned that if the information happened to be false, then they will definitely be in trouble which the three mentioned above accepted because they were sure of their facts.

“That when the operation was carried out, it was successful but since then they have not received any commendation by the commission, let alone give any reward as stated even though the EFCC have their names and phone numbers.”

The petitioners said rather than to do the needful, some of the EFCC staff gave them further information that they were not the only people who gave them information on the Ikoyi Tower as others were also involved without mentioning them.

Upon various meetings by the three persons, they agreed to go back and meet Samaila Muhammed, the head of EFCC operations, and were told on their visit that the numbers had increased to nine who made the report urging them to bring the remaining persons.

Reacting, Yinka Akintunde, special adviser to the minister of Finance on Media, said that such issues be referred to the EFCC. He said it was not the responsibility of the Ministry.

He added that the ministry would only come in when the rightful persons had been duly recognised by the relevant authorities for payment after due process.

Also reacting, Wilsom Uwujaren, head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, explained the role of the commission on the matter.

He said several persons had in the past besieged the commission to say that they were part of whistleblowing.

He confirmed to PRNigeria that the commission had records of the original whistleblowers of the Ikoyi Towers, stressing that all would be done to make sure that the right persons were paid accordingly.

Meanwhile, the petitioners are heading to the court to stop the payment to those they described as wrong persons.

They added that two clear months after the submission of the petition to the AGF, nothing concrete had been done by the minister to look into their matter.

They alleged that the EFCC sold out in the processes leading to the recovery of the said amount, stating that the development would discourage genuine whistleblowers in the fight against corruption by the present administration.

It would be recalled that Kemi Adeosun, the minister of Finance, on Sunday, November 12, gave reasons the whistleblower had not been paid.

Her response followed outrage by Nigerians accusing government of unwillingness to pay the whistleblower his/her five percent commission as enshrined in the policy.

The minister said: “the Federal Government has not withheld any fund due to any whistleblower. The Ministry has in place detailed procedures for processing payments due under the Whistleblower Policy.

“The procedures were designed to prevent abuse and legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information providers.

“These procedures include an application by the agency who recovered the funds including evidence of the recovery, confirmation that there are no pending legal issues on the recovery, verification of the identity of the information provider, calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes.”

– Nov 14, 2017 @ 14:55 GMT |