NigeriaDecides2019: EFCC Stopped From Probing Plane Loaded With Cash For Kwara Election

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 reports.

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.