NIA officials to appear before Osinbajo panel over cash discovery

A panel headed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and created to investigate the recent discovery of $50 million cash in Lagos has summoned officials of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) over the issue.

The cash was discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an Ikoyi luxury flat on Wednesday, April 12.

The controversy surrounding the find was heightened after NIA Director General, Ayo Oke claimed that the money was allocated to his agency by the Goodluck Jonathan administration for “covert operations.”

The revelation led President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend Oke on Wednesday, April 19, and set up the Osinbajo panel.

The panel has invited officials of the NIA to come before it with relevant documents.

“We have invited some officials of the NIA to come and explain to us why such a huge amount of money should be kept outside a financial institution,” a Presidency source told Punch.

“Some of those invited are from the finance department. The panel hopes to understand the workings of the NIA and how it spends cash relating to projects and security matters.

“The invited persons will also explain what the money was spent on and what sort of security projects the NIA had done which required such a sum of money,” the source added.

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Other members of the panel are the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and National Security Adviser, Babagana Moguno.

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu has also submitted a report on the discovery.