13th April, 2017
The owner of the large sums of money discovered at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos State, has been identified.
She is no other than the sacked Managing Director of Operations at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue.
Nnamdi-Ogbue was sacked alongside other three top Managing Directors at the NNPC over the ‘missing’ petrol scandal involving Capital Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited owned by businessman, Ifeanyi Ubah.
The operation leading to the discovery was followed by a whistle blower’s confidential alert received by the anti-graft agency in the early hours of Wednesday.
The breakdown of the money found in the house is $43.4million, £27,800 and N23.2million.
According to the source, the movers of the bags made residents believe that they were bringing in bags of clothes. Another source who is conversant with the apartment of interest indicated that a woman usually appears on a different occasion with Ghana-Must-Go bags.
“She comes looking haggard, with dirty clothes but her skin didn’t quite match her outward appearance, perhaps a disguise,” the source said.
On getting to the building, operatives met the entrance door locked. Guards at the gate explained that nobody resides in the apartment, but some persons come in and out once in a while.
In compliance with the magisterial order contained in the warrant, the EFCC used minimum force to gain entrance into the apartment, the agency said.
Monies were found in two of the four-bedroom apartment. A further search of the wardrobe by operatives in one of the rooms was found to be warehousing three fireproof cabinets disguisedly hidden behind wooden panels of the wardrobe. Upon assessing the content of the cabinets, neatly arranged were US dollars, British pound sterling, and some naira notes in sealed wrappers.
Preliminary findings indicate that the funds are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity. Investigations are ongoing.
The facility is said to be owned by a former PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu.
It was learnt that the cook who served Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, last year absconded with cash and pieces of jewelry worth $6million.
The cook, Mr. Gabel Segbedji, a national of Benin Republic, took off with the loot in a Toyota Camry car, which also belonged to her boss.