Yakubu Galadima, the lawyer of the whistle-blower who provided information that led to the recovery of about N13 billion from a residential apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, says his client has received the first tranche of his reward by the Federal Government.
Galadima told journalists that his client did not run mad on receiving his payment, contrary to the predictions of Itse Sagay, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC).
Sagay had said that FG delayed payment of reward to the whistle-blower because he could have run mad if such huge amount of money was paid to him at once.
Galadima also said the whistle blower travelled out of the country hours after receiving part of the N421m reward.
“My client confirmed to me that he had received a credit alert from the Federal Government. He travelled out of the country this morning (Wednesday morning).
“He has been paid the first installment but there were many tax deductions. Yes, we are happy.
“I will give you details later but I can confirm now that he has received some money. As you can see, my client did not run mad as predicted by Prof. Itse Sagay.”
Galadima praised the government for keeping its promise, adding that the payment of the reward to his client signifies government’s commitment to the whistle-blower policy.
A couple of weeks ago, Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, had said the money for the payment of reward to whistle blowers had been approved.
She said the money would be paid directly into the whistle-blower’s account and not that of his lawyer or anybody else’s.
Adeosun also said that all the taxes accruable on the amount would be paid directly into the account of the state government where the beneficiary resides.
In April this year, the EFCC recovered huge sums of money in local and foreign currencies – totaling N13 billion – from flat 7bn, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos State, following an intelligence from a whistle-blower.
Ayodele Oke, former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), laid claim to the money saying it belonged to the agency.
According to Oke, the money was approved for the NIA by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 to enable it carry out some “covet operations”. But Oke could not satisfactorily explain how and why the money ended up in a residential apartment allegedly owned by his wife.
Attempts to arrest Oke last week was unsuccessful, as DSS and NIA operatives stationed at his Maitama, Abuja residence refused to cooperate with the EFCC personnel that came for the operation.