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Ikoyi Mystery Billions: Akinyemi, Adeyemi Fault Osinbajo Panel

VICE PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO GOING THROUGH FILES AS HE ASSUMES OFFICE AT THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA IN ABUJA ON MONDAY(22/6/15). 4057/22/6/2015/ISE/CH/NAN

A former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, and the patron of Anti-Corruption Crusaders, Prof. Tayo Adeyemi, have faulted the three-man panel constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the controversial N13bn recovered from Osborne Towers, Ikoyi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The panel headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, as members.

The panel is expected to conclude its investigation this week but Akinyemi warned that the report of the Osinbajo panel should not be made public because of security implications.

Also in a statement on behalf of Anti-Corruption Crusaders on Sunday, Adeyemi said Buhari had put the cart before the horse by not allowing the EFCC to conclude its investigation and submitting a report to the Presidency before constituting the Osinbajo-led committee.

“Presently, we, as usual, have put the cart before the horse and the committee headed by the Vice-President, with due respect, is doing a job for which they are ill equipped and which is out of their constitutional jurisdiction. They should have been the last port of call. Any member of the committee who may have an interest will be able to utilise his position in the committee to protect his interest.

“In any developed country, things would never happen in this way. We, therefore, request for the NSA to toe the path of integrity and allow the committee take an objective position in this matter. Nigerians will not accept the report of the committee if this is not done,” Adeyemi said.

In his own separate statement, Akinyemi said, “When the news broke that some millions of dollars had been found hidden in a flat in Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, I was, quite frankly, indifferent as it has become a recurrent decimal. I was not even bothered when nobody initially stepped forward to claim it. But when Ambassador Ayo Oke stepped forward to claim it on behalf of the National Intelligence Agency, alarm bells started to ring in my ears.

“It is one of the sacred traditions of the external intelligence trade to admit nothing and to deny nothing. A saving grace emerged when the President set up the Osinbajo panel to untangle the web over the millions of dollars. But the President inadvertently made a mistake.  He did not appoint anyone with a history of external intelligence experience onto the panel.”

Akinyemi was of the view that the three-member panel would not be able to understand the nuances of the operations of the NIA, arguing further that it was inappropriate for one security agency to publicly investigate the operations of another similar agency without Buhari’s permission.

In the statement, Akinyemi made a series of recommendations which he said would help to “secure damage limitation.”

Some of the recommendations included the need to include a former director of the NIA to serve as a consultant to the Osinbajo panel.

He added, “No more leaks from the panel; under no circumstances should the report of the panel, in as far as it relates to the activities of the NIA, be made public, and under no circumstances should the National Assembly be allowed to conduct hearings into the NIA affair.”

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Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

 

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