The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been barred
from investigating a private jet loaded with money on February 15, 2019, the
eve of the aborted presidential and National Assembly elections, Saturday
PUNCH learnt on Friday.
Our correspondent gathered that the plane which was billed
to fly to Ilorin, Kwara State, from Murtala Muhammed International Airport,
Ikeja, Lagos failed to take off due to the weight of the money on board.
Multiple sources said the EFCC
operatives thereafter stormed the plane after a tip-off from some people about
the cargo. They demanded the source of the money, its owner and destination.
The crew was said to have informed
the operatives that the money was meant for election expenses in Kwara State,
but the detectives reportedly insisted on taking away the cash haul.
Our sources said, “The EFCC
operatives interrogated the crew and they claimed they were part of the
government. They also gave a code which they assumed the operatives would
understand, but the detectives insisted on taking away the money.
“However, a phone call came from the
Presidential Villa ordering them to hands off the matter and clear off from the
scene. Shortly after, armed soldiers took over the scene and the money was
transferred into another plane which took off by 10pm that night.”
The Public Relations Officer,
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, could not be
reached for comments on the aircraft involved in the cash movement as she did
not respond to calls to her phone. She had yet to respond to a text message as
of the time of filing this report.
In his reaction, the acting EFCC
spokesman, Tony Orilade, simply explained that he saw the alleged picture of
the said aircraft being shared on the social media, noting that it could have
been ‘created and recreated.’
He said, “On the plane-load of cash
you asked about, I saw the pictures and we know that these pictures are things
that can be manipulated to achieve the purposes by their producers. All the
reports from the field are being reviewed and we shall come out with our
position once it is ready.”
Orilade added, “Let’s not be carried
away by the activities of mischief-makers; like the acting EFCC Chairman,
Ibrahim Magu said, we shall continue to do the right thing to make Nigeria a
better country for everyone.”
Meanwhile, findings have indicated
that the EFCC may not investigate the movement of huge cash in two bullion vans
by a leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on the eve
of the elections.
Although Tinubu admitted in an
interview with journalists in Lagos that he transported the bulk money into his
Ikoyi residence which is a violation of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act,
it was gathered that the anti-graft agency had no plan to probe the incident.
When asked about the money, the
former governor said, “What is your issue with bullion vans in my house? I have
not done any government business in the last five years. So I didn’t steal
government money.
“And
the bullion van was not said to contain election materials, so what offence
have I committed? I decide where to keep it (money) and how to keep it.”
But when confronted about the
matter, the EFCC spokesman said the anti-graft commission had successfully
curbed vote-buying in the elections and prevented a repeat of the incidents in
Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
“You will agree with me that to a
large extent, we were able to curtail vote-buying with our men conspicuously
positioned at polling booths across the country in the course of the
elections,” he said.