The National Intelligence Agency of Nigeria (NIA) and has vehemently denied a report that its officials were laying claims to the cash hoard of $50 million recently seized from an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Saharareporters reports that an online publication had reported that officials of the NIA were insisting that the seized cash was part of the agency’s covert operations.
The publication had also claimed that NIA officials were furious that the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, had undermined their covert tasks by sending agents of the anti-corruption agency to impound the cash.
However, a top NIA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told SaharaReporters that the agency was in no way tied to the scandalous amount discovered in an apartment that was built by a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu. According to the source, the NIA never claimed ownership of the funds, contrary to the assertion made by an online paper.
The Director-General of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, according to SaharaReporters said he had not seen such a report and as such couldn’t comment on it.
Furthermore, the current Minister of Transportation, Mr. Amaechi has denied claims of his ownership of the apartment where the money was found. He stated that he does not own any apartment or house in Lagos, stating that his only property in Nigeria was in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
The claim was made by some anonymous individuals via a WhatsApp message stated that former Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was the owner of the apartment where the cash was found.
The WhatsApp message, which was also tweeted by Lere Olayinka, a spokesman for Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, claimed that Mr. Amaechi bought apartments 7A and 7B in the apartment complex and then gave one to famous Nigerian TV personality, Mo Abudu.
The EFCC has yet to unveil the owner of the stash of cash unearthed in safes that were concealed behind a false wall at an apartment in Ikoyi, an upscale area of the sprawling metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria’s major commercial city.