Ex-NNPC boss claims $9.8m (N5bn) is gift

A former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Andrew Yakubu,
has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) that the staggering sums of $9,772,800 and £74,000
cash recovered from a building belonging to him in Kaduna
were gifts.

Yakubu reportedly owned up to the ownership of the huge cash
when he submitted himself to the anti-corruption commission’s zonal office in Kano, where he made a statement to the commission.

The former NNPC boss, who presided over the country’s
petroleum corporation between 2012 and 2014, according to a
statement made available to Saturday Tribune by EFCC’s
Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, could not,
however, disclose the persons who gave him the ‘gifts’.

The huge cash was discovered in Yakubu’s building during a
special operation conducted by EFCC operatives in the building
on Friday, 3 February. The money was hidden in a fire proof
safe.

The statement disclosed that the raid on the building was
sequel to an intelligence report which the commission received
about suspected proceeds of crime believed to be hidden in the
slums of Sabon Tasha area of the Kaduna metropolis.

“On arrival at the facility, the caretaker of the house, one Bitrus
Yakubu, a younger brother of Andrew Yakubu, disclosed that
both the house and the safe where the money was found
belonged to his brother, Andrew Yakubu.

“When the safe was opened it was discovered that it contained
the sum of $9,772,800 (Nine Million, Seven hundred and
Seventy two thousand, eight hundred United States dollars
(about N5billion) and another sum of £74,000 (Seventy four
thousand pound sterling),” the statement informed.

The anti-graft agency stated that the former NNPC boss was
assisting the commission in its investigation.

EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, had on Thursday while
appearing before the House of Representatives’ Committee on
Financial Crimes revealed that operatives of the commission
recovered huge cash from a building in Kaduna, though he did
not reveal when the operation was carried out.

Magu, who appeared before the committee to explain the anti-
graft agency’s budget performance in 2016 and defend its 2017
budget proposal, also disclosed that another N1.25 billion was
recovered from a public servant, all in the last two weeks.

EFCC had on 20 June, 2016, dragged Yakubu alongside the
chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, Jide
Omokore, before Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako of the Abuja
Division of the Federal High Court on a four-count charge of
money laundering.

Apart from Omokore, Yakubu is facing trial along with Victor
Briggs, Abiye Membere, David Mbanefo, Atlantic Energy Brass
Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts
Limited over the allegation.

Culled-Nigeria Tribune