ABUJA, NIGERIA – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday suspended the country’s top foreign spy and intelligence chief Ayo Oke after a shocking discovery of $43 million in cash in a Lagos apartment, the President’s office said.
According to an official statement from the government, the President ordered an investigation into how the top chief in the National Intelligence came into possession of that amount of money and whether or not any laws were broken. The investigation has 2 weeks to report its findings to the President.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari won the election on a pledge to weed out corruption. Credit:AFP/Utomi Ekpei
Mr. Oke has not commented since discovery of the money and the news broke.
The discovery of the $43 million in combined local and foreign currencies by Nigeria’s anti-corruption commission caused a sensation in a country where graft is rampant.
According to reports, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found nearly £27,800 and 23 million naira ($75 000) in addition to the $43.4 million in an empty apartment unit in an affluent suburb of Ikoyi.
Buhari ordered the suspension of the Director General of the Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke until the investigation is completed.
Nigeria has a problem with an endemic culture of corruption in the government. Credit: EFCC
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which was led by Mr. Oke had laid claim to the money, the President’s office said.
On a separate issue, the President also order an investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the awarding of contracts under government office that coordinates the humanitarian response in Nigeria’s northeast, a region that has suffered for years from the Boko Haram insurgency.
Anti-corruption officials have so far uncovered bundles of cash in Nigeria this year. Buhari became President in 2015 after campaigning on a pledge to end corruption that is endemic in government.
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