Questions linger as Presidency classifies $43m Ikoyi find as a “security issue”

As controversy mounts over the ownership of the $43million found in a luxury apartment in Ikoyi, the Presidency has gone silent on the find and now says it is a “security issue.”

Sources in the presidency say it is a security situation and must be handled carefully. This is why the presidency is yet to issue an official statement on the cash find in Ikoyi.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last weekend stormed a luxury apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, where it found cash in three currencies, stashed in fire-proof safes. During the raid, a total of N13 billion, made up of $43.4million, N23million and £27,000, was found. The monies were reportedly hidden in safe cabinets inside one of the apartments in the building.
Though details of the operation carried out by the agency are still sketchy, some names have been touted in the media as owners of the money and linked to the flat. They include the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and owner of the Osborne Towers, Adamu Muazu; Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, who was recently relieved of her appointment as Managing Director of NNPC (Retail); and a daughter of Tony Anenih, a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, as well as Rotimi Amaechi, the current Minister of Transport.
They have all categorically denied any link with the money.

But the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is said to have laid claims to the recovered money, stating that the monies were kept for an unspecified covert operation. This has raised concerns on why such a huge sum of money would be kept in an unguarded flat in the heart of Ikoyi, instead of a safe at the agency’s office, which is mainly guarded by armed officers.
Even more ironic is the fact that an intelligence agency’s “safe house” got raided so easily without it being able to protect such huge sums from being taken over, even if its from another security agency in the country.

Sources in the business community say it is a bit baffling that such money could be kept in a residential flat without any security and even more surprising, that the EFCC could easily break into the safe’s where the monies were kept.
“The ease with which the EFCC broke those safes means many financial institutions will soon be reconsidering how safe are the “safes” they keep customer’s money and other valuables” a banker told BusinessDay.

The NIA is said to have however briefed the President on why it decided to keep the money out of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and in a private residence in Ikoyi.

There are however insinuations of a cover up for the real owner of the money, with Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike coming out to claim that the money belongs to his state and was allegedly hidden by the immediate past governor and minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi. Speaking at a Church service on Sunday, Wike called on christians in the state to pray that the Federal Government returns the money to the state.

Amaechi has since denied the allegations and accused Wike of declaring war against the Federal Government. However, Dakuku Peterside, who is the DG of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA) and a close ally of Amaechi, says Wike’s claim for the discovered money crashed when a Federal Government agency stepped forward to claim ownership.

Both Presidential Spokesmen, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu swiftly declined to comment on claims that President Muhammadu Buhari actually met with the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, and the Director General of the NIA, Ayodele Oke.

They both declined to comment on the matter, which is gradually becoming an embarrassment to the government’s anti graft war.

More worried and perplexed are housing sector professionals who insist that it is no rocket science to find out who owns any property, stressing that it is unimaginable for an apartment of over N100 million to be sold and bought without proper documentation.

“If such a situation ever exists as in the case of this subject matter, then it is an indictment on the agent who marketed the entire Towers”, said a property vendor in a telephone interview. “To sell or rent out a property, you must do your KYC ( know your customer) to ascertain whether he is a good person or otherwise”, the vendor added.
“Every property transaction is documented. Again, before a property is sold or rented, there is always an offer and also an acceptance. The question to ask is, who made the offer and who accepted? And all these are documented. So, the document is critical in finding out who owns any property”, he said.
Another professional who also did not want to be named, agrees, adding that in determining who owns a property, a simple search at the land registry would reveal who holds the title to the property, adding that the search would also reveal if the title has been transferred or charged to another party.
But Roland Igbinoba, CEO, Pison Housing Company, says all these wouldn’t have been a problem if as a country, Nigeria had an electronic property registration system, in which case anybody could have gone ahead with the search without recourse to a third party.
“It is all about having a strong property registration infrastructure”, Igbinoba said in a telephone interview, adding, “it will even help for property taxes

Sources in the finance community say even if it is eventually confirmed that the money belonged to the NIA, questions will still be asked as to why the EFCC did not do preliminary investigations about the flat before moving to raid the place.
“It is easy to trace the owner of a property, especially in highbrow Ikoyi. If the EFCC had done that, it would properly have known who owns the property. Except they did it and found out that the property was registered in the name of a private person hence their decision to raid the flat. Then it is important that they disclose the name of whoever owns the property so that they disabuse the minds of Nigerians that this is a cover up.”

The EFCC has in recent weeks discovered huge cash in different places across the country, but the commission has largely been silent on the identity of the owners of the cash recovered in different places. The increase in cash discoveries has been linked to the introduction of the whistle blower policy of the Federal Government.
The Minister of Information Lai Mohammed, in statement issued on Sunday, claimed that the Federal Government has been inundated with information of how corrupt Nigerians are now burying money in their backyards, deep forests and cemeteries, in a bid to avoid being caught with illicit cash.

Chuka Uroko and Elizabeth Archibong