While the unnamed whistleblower spoke in Lagos through his lawyer denying receiving any money from the EFCC, the immediate past chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, declared that the whistleblower had actually been in detention.
Odinkalu told Saturday Tribune through WhatsApp that the whistleblower, whom he described as a civilian, had been detained serially by three security agencies.
While confirming his earlier tweets in which he said the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, lied about treating the person well, he disclosed that the man had been detained “in Shangisha” and by an anti-graft agency in Lagos.
He, however, said the man “is not in detention at this time” but “he has been despicably treated, (and) his life could be in danger.”
Odinkalu had said via @ChidiOdinkalu that Magu’s claims were “verifiably false,” adding that “the claim by @officialEFCC chair, Magu that Ikoyi Billions #Whistleblower ‘is now a millionaire’ is verifiably false.
“It’s also false that @officialEFCC has been working with Ikoyi Whistleblower. Instead, he’s suffered serial detention in 3 difft institutions.”
Magu, who made the claim, in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, was quoted by the EFCC as saying: “We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen one million naira of his own before.
“So, he is under counselling on how to make good use of the money and also the security implication.
“We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride.”
The whistleblower, according to the Federal Government’s policy, is entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five percent of the recovered loot if the information he gives leads to a recovery.
The whistle-blower, through his counsel, Yakubu Galadima, lamented that the commission had, in fact, abandoned him and reneged on its promise to provide him with security.
“The EFCC does not even know the whereabouts of my client. He is presently living from hand to mouth, having been abandoned by the commission.
“We have written to President Muhammadu Buhari and even to Magu himself and we are yet to get any form of response. I even sent Magu an SMS this morning (Friday), debunking the allegation that my client has been paid. But as I speak, I am yet to get a response from him,” Galadima said.
In a letter written to the Office of the President on 24th July, 2017, a copy of which was made available to Saturday Tribune, Galadima reminded the president of the promise to pay the whistle-blower his five per cent commission.
The letter titled “Request for Payment of Reward/Commission Due to Whistle-blower Who Facilitated the Recovery of Sums of Monies at No 7B Osborne Towers Ikoyi Lagos,” was received and stamped by the Office of the President.
Galadima lamented that his client came to him in confidence insisting that the said sum was discreetly warehoused and concealed in the apartment.
“My client provided useful information which led to the recovery of the $43.4 million on Wednesday, 12th of April 2017. I facilitated a meeting with the EFCC office through one Ahmed Ghali and the money was eventually recovered based on the information my client provided.
“We had a meeting with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibajo, where we were reassured that my client would get his commission. But up till now, my client is yet to get anything from EFCC.
“We were shocked by the news making the rounds that he has been paid. This young man is yet to receive anything from the EFCC,” Galadima said.
Justice Muslim Hassan of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had on June 6, 2017 ordered the permanent forfeiture of the said money to the Federal Government.
On Thursday, Justice Saliu Saidu of the same court also ordered the temporary forfeiture to the Federal Government, the apartment where the money was recovered.
However, the EFCC said, on Friday, that contrary to reports on the social media, it never stated that the whistleblower had been paid by the commission.
The commission, in a statement made available to Saturday Tribune by its head of media and publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, stated that its acting chairman, Magu, never stated that the person had been paid.
The EFCC insisted that what Magu said was that citizens should embrace the whistle blower policy as the person who blew the whistle on the Ikoyi recovery had now become a millionaire.
“Following publications in sections of the social media today, November 10, it has become necessary to clarify the statement credited to the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, regarding the status of the whistle-blower in the Osborne Tower cash recovery.
“What Magu said at the 7th Session of the Council of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Vienna, Austria, was that citizens should be encouraged to embrace whistle blowing because of the incentives attached.
“To illustrate this, he stated that the gentleman who provided the information that triggered the huge recovery at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi was already a millionaire based on the incentive in the whistle blower policy where information providers are entitled to between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the recovered sum,” the commission said.
Uwujaren added that Magu stated that the young man was being worked on now by the commission since the amount he would be given was huge, such that he had never seen before in his life.
“Magu never said that the young man has been paid. The commission is not even directly responsible for the payment of rewards to whistleblowers,” the statement added.
Uwujaren declared that “there is also no controversy about the exact amount recovered in the operation which was streamed live, the first of its kind, and witnessed by the whistleblower, security at the Towers and representative of the agency which claimed ownership of the money.”
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