Agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) have discovered the sum of N2.5 billion in a bank
account opened in the name of a housemaid to former Minister of
Aviation, Stella Oduah, who is now a senator representing Anambra State
in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Two senior EFCC sources told
Sahara reporters correspondent that the bank account and its huge
deposits had been opened and operated without the knowledge of the
former minister’s housemaid. “Senator Oduah apparently opened the
account with her housemaid’s name, image, and details without the
housemaid knowing about it,” said one EFCC agent familiar with the
scandal.
Another EFCC source told SaharaReporters that Ms. Oduah
had been going around to some top officials of the Muhammadu Buhari
administration seeking their help to scuttle her impending trial. Last
week, she asked for a meeting with EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu, claiming
she wanted to meet in her official capacity as a senator.
The two EFCC sources who briefed SR
correspondent on the “housemaid” account disclosed that Ms. Oduah was
the sole signatory to the account, adding that they were still
connecting the dots to uncover how the ex-Aviation Minister managed to
pull off such a money laundering operation.
“As of last week,
the account was still active and contained over N2.5 billion,” said one
EFCC source. He added that he could not ascertain whether the EFCC
chairman, who is currently traveling in Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj,
had ordered the freezing of the account.
One of SR's EFCC sources
revealed that the discovery of the “maid” account meant that the former
minister must have stolen as much as N5.6 billion so far from the
Aviation Ministry’s funds during her ministerial term.
SaharaReporters
had revealed in earlier reports that EFCC investigators had so far
determined that Ms. Oduah split N3.6 billion that she acquired illegally
among eight companies.
In August 2015, Ms. Oduah filed an
application at a Federal High Court to stop the EFCC from investigating
allegations that she bought two ostensibly bulletproof BMW cars at $1.6
million, or $800,000 apiece. A controversial judge, Justice Mohammed
Yunusa, initially granted the order sought by Senator Oduah.
However, in February 2016, after Justice Yunusa was transferred out of
Lagos, another federal high court judge vacated the order, permitting
the EFCC to carry on with its investigation.
SaharaReporters had
broken the report about the BMW scam during Ms. Oduah’s ministerial
tenure. Several BMW dealers in Europe and North America told sahara
reporters that what the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) paid
for the two BMW cars far exceeded the price ranges for such bulletproof
automobiles.
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