2019 Election: FG Sends EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu To Dubai To Track Down Illicit Funds

2019 Election: FG Sends EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu To Dubai To Track Down Illicit Funds

Fresh reports indicate that the Federal Government is not leaving any
stone unturned in its effort to trace and repatriate illicit funds that
might had been looted and stashed away in far away Dubai, United Arab
Emirates by influential but fraudulent politicians and top government
officials. 

According to a report by Vanguard, the Federal Government has
dispatched the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Mr. Ibrahim Magu and some other top officials of the anti-graft agency
to Dubai with a view to gathering intelligence on stolen assets in that
country. 

The aim is to be able to seize such property with ease and bring the
owners to justice in line with its anti-corruption disposition,” a
source close to the deal, told Vanguard on Tuesday. Vanguard learnt from
an EFCC source that Magu and his lieutenants are taking advantage of
the ongoing three-day event of the 2019 Intersec Security Summit in UAE
to meet with the Dubai intelligence community to strategise on how to
close in on owners of illicit cash and property in that nation, a
tourist destination for most Nigerian elite.

A top federal government official who described the government’s
latest move as timely, said that the Dubai summit is one of the largest
security and intelligence gatherings in the world where concerted
efforts are taken to prevent illicit funds from undermining the national
security.

The government official said: “I can tell you authoritatively that
the Nigerian team led by Magu, met with the Dubai intelligence last
Monday in company of crack detectives for intelligence sharing and
cooperation.

This is directly connected to the illicit assets tracing and
financial flow vis-a-vis the commission’s active surveillance on
vote-buying and monitoring of its funding source. You will recall that
the purpose of those who looted our commonwealth is to bring in the
illicit funds into the country in order to undermine national security
and engage in voter inducement.

Please note that the development is capable of scaring investors,
discouraging investments and crippling the economy,” the top officials
said.

The development came barely 24 hours after the Minister of
Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, raised the alarm that some unnamed
elements were planning the disrupt the forthcoming elections but did not
give any evidence to buttress the claim, citing security reports as his
basis.

The Special Assistant on Media to the EFCC Chairman, Tony Amokeodo,
however declined to confirm or deny the story, saying however that his
boss and some crack detectives from the commission were outside the
country for serious assignment but did not name the particular country.