By ATIKU’S LAWYER ARRESTED BY EFCC FOR ALLEGED MONEY LAUNDERING OF $2 MILLION
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested Uyiekpen Giwa-Osagie, a lawyer for the People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
BlackBox Nigeria gathered that Osagie was arrested on Monday following the arrest of Alhaji Abdullahi Usman, a notorious BDC owner based in Lagos, who was caught ferrying $2milion by air from Abuja to Lagos.
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When the money was intercepted by EFCC, Usman, who owns Hasbunallahu BDC LTD, confessed that Uyi paid naira equivalent of $4million into his account. He converted it to $2million pieces and ferried to Lagos, and on arrival took it to Keystone Bank.
Information has it that the money was to be allegedly budgeted for vote-buying or to compromise electoral officials in settling all his party people ahead of the elections. After arresting Uyi, EFCC operatives searched his Ikoyi Reeve Road home and found documents linking him to Atiku. He was reportedly recalcitrant during the arrest, and is still in EFCC detention.
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EFCC spokeman Tony Orilade refused to confirm the arrest and make any statement on the issue until he receives clearance from the authorities.
Reaction
Meanwhile a former deputy spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, described the arrest as a witch-hunt by the APC, noting that the anti-graft agency had left nobody in doubt that it was doing the bidding of the party and President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement yesterday, Tuesday, Frank said the arrest of Giwa-Osagie a few weeks after Tunde Ayeni, a former chairman of Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank), was picked up and detained, showed that the APC was desperate to “starve the opposition of critical funding for its campaign.”
He called on the international community to sanction the acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, for allegedly detaining opposition figures illegally in order to dampen their chances in the forthcoming elections.
Frank expressed,
“Magu cannot claim to be fighting corruption when the only people he finds to be allegedly engaged in fraudulent activities are key members of the opposition. This is a witch-hunt and highly selective.”
“Today, the EFCC is clearly an arm of the APC; no thanks to Magu who has officially pledged his support to Buhari by wearing his re-election campaign brooch on his suit lapel.”
