Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside the Nigerian flat full of cash

Nigeria's foreign spy chief Ayo Oke has been suspended after anti-corruption officers found more than $43m (£34m) in a flat in the main city, Lagos, the president's office has said.

Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into how the spy agency headed by Mr Oke came into possession of the money, his office added.

Mr Oke has not yet commented.

However, unnamed intelligence officials told local media that the money was kept in the flat for covert operations.

Anti-corruption officials have uncovered bundles of cash in Nigeria this year.

Mr Buhari took office in 2015 with a pledge to root out corruption in government.

In a statement, his office said he had also suspended his close aide, David Babachir Lawal, pending an investigation into contracts awarded to deal with the humanitarian crisis in the north-east. The region has been hit by an insurgency by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

A three-member panel, led by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, will investigate both cases, Mr Buhari's office added.

Apart from US notes worth $43.4m, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found nearly £27,800 and some 23m naira ($75,000) at the empty flat in Lagos's affluent Ikoyi suburb.

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA), which led by Mr Oke, had laid claim to the money, Mr Buhari's office said.

Image copyright EFCC Image caption The money was neatly arranged and hidden in wardrobes, investigators say

The panel has been ordered to report within 14 days on who authorised the release of the money to the NIA and whether any laws or security procedures had been breached, Mr Buhari's office added.

Mr Oke would remain suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, it said.

Last week, the EFCC said it carried out the raid after a tip-off that a woman, looking "haggard" and wearing "dirty clothes", was taking bags in and out of the seventh-floor flat.

The "neatly arranged" cash was stashed in "sealed wrappers" in wardrobes and cabinets in the four-bedroom flat, the EFCC added.

In March, it said it had found "crispy" banknotes worth $155,000 at the airport in northern Kaduna city.</s>File this one under “oops.” The head of Nigeria’s spy agency had $43 million of cash just lying around in one of his apartments.

Anti-corruption investigators became suspicious of Ayo Oke, head of Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency, after a tip-off that a “haggard” looking woman wearing “dirty clothes” kept taking bags in and out of his seventh-story apartment in Lagos. So, on April 12, they raided his apartment and stumbled onto the mother lode. In the four-bedroom apartment, they found “neatly arranged” stacks of $43 million in U.S. dollars, sealed and hidden in various wardrobes and cabinets. They also found $36,000 worth of British pounds and $75,000 worth of Nigerian naira.

Nigeria’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said it suspected the funds were linked to unlawful activities. Oke has’t yet made a public statement, but unnamed intelligence sources told local media there’s nothing to see here, and the cash was just being held for covert operations.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari isn’t buying it, and has suspended Oke pending an investigation. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will head the investigation and report back to Buhari with findings in two weeks.

Buhari campaigned on rooting out corruption but has struggled to make good on those promises since taking office in 2015. (It’s an issue that has plagued Nigeria for decades, particularly the country’s corruption-addled oil sector.)

The country’s anti-corruption body has uncovered a slew of cash bundles linked to government graft in recent months, thanks in part to a new policy that entitles whistleblowers to a small cut of any misused public funds recovered.</s>Nigeria’s spy chief has been suspended amid reports that a $43 million stash seized in a widely trumpeted apartment raid belonged to his agency. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Ayodele Oke, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, over the April 12 raid, Buhari aide Femi Adesina said.

When Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency raided an upscale apartment in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, agents found more than $43 million as well as 23.2 million naira (Nigerian currency worth about $76,000) and £27,800 (about $35,000).

At the time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the funds were suspected to be linked to unlawful activity.

 But according to local media reports, Oke eventually admitted his agency was responsible for the cash, saying it was being stored for covert operations.

An investigation has been launched into how the National Intelligence Agency got the money, including who authorized the funds’ release to the agency, Adesina said. A panel headed by Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will carry out the probe and report to Buhari within the next two weeks, Adesina said.

Nigeria has struggled with corruption and looted funds for decades. The anti-corruption unit has scored a number of cash seizures this year after Nigeria’s finance minister announced a new whistleblowing policy in December.

The anti-graft agency said it raided the Lagos apartment after a tip about a “haggard” woman in “dirty clothes” taking bags in and out of the unit.

The April 12 find in the Lagos apartment was among a string of busts by the anti-corruption watchdog.

Earlier this month, the agency discovered around 250 million naira in cash ($817,000) in a Lagos market and 448 million naira in cash ($1.5 million) at a shopping plaza.

Those seizures were widely credited to a new policy in which whistleblowers can anonymously provide information through a secure portal. If the information leads to the recovery of stolen public funds, the whistleblower is entitled to 2.5% to 5% of the total money recovered.</s>Nigeria's president on Wednesday suspended the country's intelligence chief over the recent discovery of $43 million in cash in a Lagos apartment.

 

 President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into how the National Intelligence Agency came to claim the money and whether any laws were broken, a government statement said.

 

 The discovery of the cash in both local and foreign currencies by the country's anti-corruption commission caused a sensation in this West African nation where graft is rampant.

 

 Buhari has ordered the suspension of the director-general of the intelligence agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke, until the investigation is complete, the statement said.

 

 The investigation has been given two weeks to report to the president.

 

 Separately, Buhari has ordered an investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the award of contracts under the government office that coordinates the humanitarian response in Nigeria's northeast, which for years has suffered from the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency.

 

 The secretary to the federal government, David Babachir Lawal, has been suspended pending that investigation, the statement said.

 

 Buhari won election in 2015 on a promise to halt corruption.</s>ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria's president has suspended the country's intelligence chief over the recent discovery of $43 million in cash in a Lagos apartment.

A statement on Wednesday says President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into how the National Intelligence Agency came to claim the money and whether any laws were broken.

The discovery of the cash in both local and foreign currencies by the country's anti-corruption commission caused a sensation in this West African nation where graft is rampant.

Wednesday's statement says Buhari has ordered the suspension of the director-general of the intelligence agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke, until the investigation is complete.

The investigation has been given two weeks to report to the president.</s>The first surprise was the huge pile of cash: more than $43-million in U.S. dollars, stacked in hundreds of neatly wrapped bundles in the filing cabinets and wardrobes of an empty apartment in Nigeria’s biggest city.

But the next surprise was even more shocking. After the money was discovered in a raid by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, it was the national spy agency that claimed ownership of it. Many tenants of the upscale apartment building in Lagos, including the unit where the massive hoard of cash was found, were reported to be high-level officials and politicians.

The controversy escalated on Wednesday when President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a formal investigation and suspended the spy agency’s director. And he added a new twist: He suspended another top civil servant in connection with a corruption probe into government relief funds for a humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria, where millions of people are facing a looming famine.

The two investigations are “related,” Mr. Buhari’s office said in a terse statement.

It was the latest evidence of the vast web of official corruption in Nigeria, where billions of dollars in oil revenue have been siphoned off by a politically connected elite in recent years, even as poverty and hunger have climbed to disastrous levels.

An estimated 4.7 million people in northeast Nigeria are desperately short of food and on the brink of famine. They live in a region that is largely isolated from the world after years of brutal clashes between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram, a radical Islamist militia. If some of their humanitarian funds have been stolen or diverted by government officials, it would mark a new low in the corruption that has haunted the country for decades.

Mr. Buhari was elected in 2015 on a promise to attack corruption and halt the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, but both of those crises have continued under his watch.

In recent weeks, the anti-corruption agency has found millions of dollars in U.S. and Nigerian currency in other locations around the country, including an international airport. The incidents were apparently unrelated, but gave a glimpse into the scale of illicit payments in the country.

In a separate case, news agencies reported that two international oil companies had paid $1.3-billion to the Nigerian government in 2011 in exchange for an offshore oil block, even though they knew that much of the money would be funnelled illicitly to a Nigerian politician. The companies have denied the allegation.

Mr. Buhari’s statement on Wednesday gave few details of the alleged corruption, except that it involved the awarding of contracts under a Nigerian government program, the Presidential Initiative on the North East. It said the allegations of “violations of law” were focused on a senior official, secretary to the government, David Babachir Lawal, who is being suspended during the investigation.

Last year, Mr. Lawal faced allegations that he had awarded contracts to companies in which he had interests. He denied these.

It’s not the first report of corruption in the region where millions are suffering from the Boko Haram conflict. In 2015, Mr. Buhari alleged that government officials had looted more than $2-billion in funds intended for weapons to fight Boko Haram, causing thousands of Nigerians to die needlessly. He said the money disappeared into “fictitious and phantom” military contracts, in which the ammunition and equipment was never provided.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram conflict over the past eight years, and more than two million have been left homeless.

The second senior official to be suspended on Wednesday was Ayo Oke, director general of the National Intelligence Agency, one of the government’s main security agencies, which has claimed ownership of the $43-million in cash from the Lagos apartment.

Mr. Buhari’s statement said the investigation will inquire into “the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds” and “how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA.” The investigation will also find out whether the agency broke the law or security procedures by obtaining and using the cash.

In addition to the U.S. dollars, the anti-corruption agency found substantial amounts of British pounds and Nigerian naira in the Lagos apartment.

Mr. Buhari has ordered both of the investigations to report to him within 14 days.</s>DETECTIVES have searched all the apartments in Osborne Towers, the Ikoyi, Lagos building where $43.4million was found last Wednesday.

 Among the VIP tenants of the luxurious apartments is former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, who confirmed the search yesterday.

 Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Adamu Mua’zu and a former Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) Managing Director, Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue also own apartments in the Towers.

 With a lease rate of N20million per annum, Osborne Towers “is one if the best residential property in Africa”.

 Obi’s is flat 1. His media aide Val Obienyem confirmed that it was searched by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials.

 Obienyem, who stressed that the former governor lives in Onitsha, said that the apartment was rented by Obi’s wife. He usually stays there whenever he is in Lagos.

 Obienyem, who cautioned against “mischief makers seeking fault in Obi”, said all the tenants in the building were also searched.

 “Even though Mr. and Mrs Obi had travelled to the USA and the U.K. for speaking engagements, when we relayed the message of the search to him, he quickly sent the keys to the 4-bedroom apartment to the EFCC via courier. He even left instructions that we should allow them to also search his Onitsha residence should there be need for that. After the thorough searching, nothing was found in the apartment”, Obienyem said.

 Obienyem added that during the search one of the operatives of the EFCC was overheard doubting if the apartment had anything to do with Obi because it was the simplest in terms of furnishing.

 As part of the probe of the controversial cash haul, EFCC Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu has shifted his base to Lagos.

 The anti-graft agency yesterday insisted that the cash would be forfeited to the Federal Government.

 It said whoever has reasons that the money should not be forfeited should come to the court on May 5.

 It was learnt that Magu’s relocation to Lagos was to tidy up the probe of how the $43.4million found its way to Apartment 7B.

 A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We are still digging; we are working round the clock on the cash recovered from Osborne Towers. There are some clues that there could be more hidden cash; this is why we are combing some places based on intelligence.

 “We are still interacting with occupants of the Towers. Some of them have made useful statements.

 “This investigation is highly sensitive; this is why the EFCC has not addressed the press on this matter. This explains why the Acting EFCC chairman has shifted base from Abuja to Lagos to drive the process. I think in the next 48 hours, we should be through with this stage of investigation.”

 On the fate of the $43.4million, the EFCC in a tweet yesterday said there is no going back on the forfeiture of the cash to the Federal Government.

 It said whoever has any reason that the cash should not be forfeited should approach the Federal High Court in Lagos on May 5.

 “The court has ruled that whoever has reasons why the money should not be forfeited to the Federal Government should stand before it on May 5,” the EFCC said.

 The $3.4million has been placed under Interim Forfeiture by the High Court.

 A statement last week by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, reads: “Barely 24 hours after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) uncovered the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 at an apartment in the Ikoyi area of Lagos, a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered an interim forfeiture of the funds to the Federal Government.

 “In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Muslim Hassan ordered anyone interested in the money to appear before him at the next adjourned date to show reason why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

 “The commission was also directed to publish in any national daily for anyone to show cause within 14 days why the order of final forfeiture should not be granted. The Interim Forfeiture was obtained pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act 2006.

 “Operatives of the Commission on Wednesday, April 12, 2017, stormed a residential building on the seventh floor of a four-bedroom apartment on Osborne Towers located on 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the large sums of money was uncovered

 “The operation followed a whistle-blower confidential alert received by the Commission office in Lagos in the early hours of yesterday.

 As at press time, a government source said: “The whistle-blowing is being embraced by Nigerians. On the average, we get 10 alerts daily which we send to the relevant anti-corruption agencies.

 “It is left to these agencies to investigate the clues. One of the alerts was the purported burying of looted public funds in cemeteries.”

 EFCC pioneer Chairman Nuhu Ribadu has said he is in support of Magu and those spearheading the anti-corruption campaign.

 He said he has never at any time condemned Magu under any guise or dissociated himself from the war against corruption.

 Ribadu said: “Some agents of retrogression have concocted words against the current leadership of the EFCC and its anti-corruption efforts and wickedly attributed same to me.

 “I hereby dissociate myself from that manufactured mischief in its entirety. It is nothing but fake news that doesn’t represent my view.

 “I have nothing but respect for those spearheading the current anti-corruption efforts. My support for EFCC and Mr. Ibrahim Magu is 100 per cent. Kindly disregard the concoction as a handiwork of agents of doom who wish this country no good.”</s>Two top Nigerian officials are suspended after bundles of cash were discovered in a Lagos flat.

Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in the world. It is also one of the world's most corrupt countries.

Most of its population of more than 160 million see little of that wealth. Many are on the verge of starvation.

It is different for those at the top, however, and many are accused of stealing billions of dollars with impunity.

The national spy agency claimed $43m found in the luxury flat belonged to the organisation. But on Wednesday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the head of the agency.

Buhari also acted against another senior civil servant accused of taking money meant to help feed the hungry and, instead, giving it to companies in which he had a personal interest.

The president has ordered an urgent investigation into the two cases -which, he says, are linked

Salaudeen Hashim - Senior Program Officer at the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, and NGO that works closely with Transparency International.</s>File: Buhari, who took office in May 2015 on promises to crackdown on corruption, suspended David Babachir Lawal, secretary to the Nigerian government, and ordered a probe into contracts awarded under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE). Photo: SUNDAY AGHAEZE / AFP

ABUJA - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against a senior civil servant related to the use of funds intended for handling a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.

Buhari, who took office in May 2015 on promises to crackdown on corruption, suspended David Babachir Lawal, secretary to the Nigerian government, and ordered a probe into contracts awarded under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

A three-man committee is to submit its report to the president within 14 days, a statement issued by the president's spokesman said on Wednesday.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Lawal for comment.

In other news regarding Nigeria's crackdown on corruption' the BBC is reporting that President Buhari has suspended the boss of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ayo Oke.

Buhari reportedly ordered an investigation following last week's discovery of $43m (R470-million) in cash in a flat in an upscale estate in Lagos.

The money, which was uncovered by the anti-corruption agency following a tip-off has been claimed by the NIA, the report says.

"President Buhari has ordered investigators to find out how the NIA came in possession of the funds and to establish if they broke any law.

"A statement from the presidency says a committee, headed by the vice president will conduct the investigation and submit a report to him within 14 days," the BBC report concluded</s>Tipoff leads anti-graft SWAT team to upscale Lagos pad, bundles of U.S. cash

(GIN)—Neatly-bound bundles of fresh U.S. dollars, Nigerian naira and British pounds totaling more than $50 million were recovered by an anti-graft “SWAT team” in a raid at the Osborne Towers, a luxury building in an upscale section of Lagos.

The raid was orchestrated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting on a new policy targeting corruption and ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. The policy provides an incentive for whistleblowers who stand to receive between 2.5 percent to five percent of the recovered amount when ill-gotten gains are found.

Since the policy was put in place, several raids, based on whistle-blower tips, have resulted in large cash hauls. According to their website, the EFCC recovered unreported funds of $817,000 in a Lagos Market and $41.5 million at a shopping plaza for a total of over $180 million since the beginning of the year.

Now, a referee will be required to decide who owns the massive trove as at least two Nigerian officials have claimed rights to it—Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rovers State or the director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke, who claims the cash was currency for “covert operations.”

Osborne Towers is one of the posh new highrises built for Nigeria’s pampered elite. Residents include a former governor, a recently retired officer the national oil company, and a TV personality, among others.

Activist lawyer Femi Falana in an open editorial expressed disbelief: “Are Nigerians to believe than an agency of the federal government kept about $50 million in an apartment without adequate security personnel to guard the money? Why was the fund not kept in a safe in the Office of the National Security Adviser?

But this week, Nigerians weren’t the only ones having to explain the provenance of large sums of cash. High level executives at Royal Dutch Shell and the Rome-based oil and gas company Eni, according to an investigation by the watchdog groups Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, knowingly took part in a “vast bribery scheme that robbed the Nigerian people of over a billion dollars.”

Titled “Shell Knew,” the report includes newly-unearthed internal emails showing that the oil companies were aware that a $1 billion payment for “one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks” would end up in the hands of convicted money launderer and ex-Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete, and from there “would flow onward for bribes.”

“This is one of the worst corruption scandals the oil industry has ever seen, and this is the biggest development so far,” said Simon Taylor, co-founder of Global Witness, which has been investigating the scandal for six years. The oil giants have long-denied that they were aware of any foul playing, saying that they only made payments to the Nigerian government.

“Today’s new evidence shows senior executives at the world’s fifth biggest company knowingly entered into a corrupt deal that deprived the Nigerian people of $1.1 billion,” Taylor continued. “That is more than the country’s entire health budget for 2016.”

Shell is currently facing trial for charges of international corruption; an Italian court will begin hearings on April 20 to determine whether the trial will proceed.
Nigerian spy chief Ayo Oke has been suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari after anti-corruption agents uncovered more than $43 million in cash at his flat in Lagos.