Jerry Ogbonna Obike Phillip, the man that was reportedly accused of withdrawing N45 million that was transferred to his account in error has cleared the air on the allegations.
In a Facebook post, he explained that the deposit was not made in error. He said
On the Withdrawal of Money Purported to Have Been Wrongly Credited to My Account by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and My Allegedly Being Wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
My attention has been drawn to the falsehood being circulatedon some social and print media platforms with my above photograph claiming that I am wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for withdrawing N45 million purported to have been wrongly credited to my account by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
For the avoidance of doubt,let me state categorically that the deposit was not made in error. The said amount was credited to my account with Diamond Bank Plc in 2012 for a contract I have with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for the lease of three (3) helicopters from Tunisia for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). The helicopters were former President Umaru Musa Yar’Aduas idea to prevent the DPR from hiring helicopters from the International Oil Companies (IOCs)they were supposed to police.
The N45 million was part payment of the mobilisation for the contract. The full mobilization is N110 million, and a total of N90 million has been paid by the ministry as mobilisation. However,some staff ofthe CBN and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources wanted me to launder the money and share it with them without supplying the helicopters for the stipulated service but I refused, insisting that it was against my principles. Our nation will continue to crawl behind other nations of the world if we all continue to acquiesce to such corrupt propositions and compromise the integrity of such or any contracts.
I am ready to fight whoever is behind these false publications because I have God behind me and no one can defeat me in such a just cause no matter how highly placed.