Ex-PDP Chair, Mu’azu owns building where EFCC uncovered $50m

A source close to the Economic Financial Crime and Commission (EFCC) has confirmed that the building where a sum of $50 million cash was uncovered belongs to Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, a former National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Mu’azu was also the governor of Bauchi State in Nigeria between 1999 and 2007.

Sources close to Mu’azu confirmed that the former PDP chairman owns the building.

While in Lagos, he lives on the penthouse on the building, a source said.

Other residents of the house are former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu, Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, a former Managing Director at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Godwin Obla, a senior lawyer and former prosecutor to EFCC.

Obla was recently arrested and charged in connection with irregular payments to Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumugobia one of the judges also arrested and undergoing trial in the ongoing probe of corruption in the judicial sector, while Ogbue was one of the NNPC senior officials fired yesterday in connection with Ifeanyi Uba’s crude oil sale scandal.

Recently, Obla’s son got married to Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue’s daughter in Lagos.

The breakdown of the money found in the house is  $43.4m, £27,800 and N23.2m.

The operation leading to the discovery was followed by a whistle blower’s confidential alert received by the Commission this morning.
According to the source, the movers of the bags made believe that they were bringing in bags of clothes.

Another source who is conversant with the apartment of interest indicated that a woman usually appeared 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. Inquiries from the 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.

Monies were found in two of the four bedroom apartment. A further probe 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 sterlings, and some naira notes in sealed wrappers.

Preliminary findings indicate that the funds are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.

Investigations are ongoing.

Kayode Adelowokan and SaharaReporters