Mr. Adeolu Olugbenga Adeyanju has narrated how he and an accomplice from
the Federal Ministry of Environment shared a loot of N468, 794,613.79
earmarked for the Great Green Wall, a federal government initiative to
check desert encroachment through tree planting as Silver Bird Galleria,
a cinema house owned by Senator Ben Murray Bruce.
Adeolu Olugbenga, in his revelation on how the cartel planned the fraud
and how the beneficiaries helped themselves to the loot told
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC) interrogators that the cartel hijacked the account from the
Federal Ministry of Environment and stole the sum before luck ran
against them in the process of exhausting the entire allocation of over
N1.392billion originally meant for the project, The Nation Newspaper reports
ICPC foiled moves to withdraw the balance of about N924million in the account and recovered it for the ministry.
Adeyanju said the N468, 794,613.79 was first converted to dollars –
about $2million based on the exchange rate in 2014 – and was then shared
at a popular cinema house in Abuja.
He claimed to have received $57,000 for making his company, Detwinx Global Service Limited available for the fraud.
Adeyanju has already been charged to the High Court of Justice of the
Federal Capital Territory while the ICPC is on the trail of top civil
servants who connived with him to loot the account.
In a statement on oath by Adeyanju, which was attached to the charge
sheet and obtained from the court, he explained how the fraud was
perpetrated in November 2014.
He implicated a Director of Finance and Account, Mr. Edet Akpan in the deal.
Akpan has denied ever knowing Adeyanju or having anything to do with him.
Adeyanju said: “Sometime in April 2014, I went in search of contract. I
visited the Ministry of Environment in my quest to get a contract.
“I walked up to Mr. Edet Akpan at the Ministry, Mabushi where I pleaded
seriously if I can be awarded any contract at all, even if it is supply
or any available contract.
“He told me that he was alone on ground as at the time I was in his
office. We exchanged telephone numbers in case I may be favourably
considered any other time. He gave me one Airtel number 080233246….
“Sometime in July-August, he called me to meet him at Silverbird
Galleria, Central Area. I rushed to meet him with the hope that I will
get contract or I have been considered by Edet Akpan.
“Meanwhile, he called me with one Glo line on that day-08085…He came
with his Honda Accord ash colour with Abuja number plate. He was with a
driver but he excused the driver from us.
“On getting there, he told me that he wanted to use my company for a
contract he will execute and the money will be paid into my account but
am I sure I will not run away with the money and I answered that never, I
can never run away with his money.
“Then he said he will test me to see if he can trust me. Then a sum of
N5million was paid to me which I collected and gave him. And he gave me
N150,000 after he showed me a document of the list of expenses on the
execution of the contract that showed a gain of N450,000.
“Then he called me sometime November 2014 to meet him in his house in
Wuse 2. He said that there is another contract he wanted to use my
company if only I can abide by the rules. He stated categorically that
he will give me a phone that we shall use in communicating only till the
contract is finally executed and paid.
“He said I should not call him on any other number except from the line
he gave to me. Also, I should call his Glo line alone and I should make
sure I get the money out of the bank on the same day.
“I said if that was his rule, I will abide with it. As we were rounding
up, a woman drove in a KIA SPORTAGE, brown colour with Abuja number
plate and he greeted the woman as “honey” and he immediately dismissed
me that we shall see the following day.
“This meeting was at about 8-8.30pm that day. He gave me a small Nokia
phone with a Glo line of 0807…and his Glo line 0805… was saved on it.
Throwing light on how the N468, 794,613.79 was wired into his account,
he said: “at about 11am on the 28th of November, 2014, Mr. Akpan called
me that money had been paid into my account.
“I asked him how much was paid and he said over N450million. I moved to the bank and confirmed same.
“Immediately, I told my account officer to arranged for a Bureau De
Change that I could transfer to. When he got the BDC, I returned and
wrote cheques for transfer to the Bureau De Change (BDC) account and
Williams delivered the dollar value of the same figure to me. I dashed
him $500 and the fellow that helped him in bringing the money into the
car was also dashed $500.
“Then I drove to Silverbird Galleria to wait for Mr. Akpan. He kept me
waiting for close to two hours and I became uncomfortable staying in
public with the huge sum and I didn’t know what was in the mind of the
bankers.
“I decided to move to ASD Motors to collect the car I bought from them the same day through transfer.
“On the 28th of November, 2014, I gave over $2milliom to Mr. Edet Akpan
and he gave me $57,000 only. Mr. Williams Echechi of Zenith Bank can
recall the actual amount he collected from the Bureau De Change. Mr.
Edet Akpan made me to understand that he had executed contract with the
Ministry of Environment.
“I returned to Silverbird Galleria where I waited for a while as well
before Mr. Akpan arrived with Honda Accord car alone and showed me the
list of expenses as usual and made me to understand that he shall give
me $57,000 only which he did.
“He collected the Nokia phone from me and said we shall have something doing in March and he will get to me then.
“I have not heard from him. I did not know that the money was stolen or from fraud.”
But Akpan in a statement to ICPC said: “I do not know the person by name
Adeolu Adeyanju neither the owner of Detwinx Global Service Limited. I
do not know Adeolu Adeyanju. It is in the course of the investigation
being carried out by ICPC that I got to know or hear of this name Adeolu
Adeyanju and the company.
“I have never transacted any business with him. Nobody with this name has ever come to my office for any transaction.”
As at press time, it was gathered that ICPC was still on the trail of the syndicate behind the fraud.
Records indicated that the anti-graft agency had on September 15, 2015 returned N924million intercepted to the Federal
The ICPC chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, had explained how the commission burst the fraud.
He said: “On the 1st of December, 2014, we received a petition from this
Ministry in respect of a fraudulent electronic funds transfer from its
accounts. A forged payment mandate in the sum of N924million was
presented to the First City Monument Bank Plc. Where the Ministry’s
account was domiciled, the funds were diverted to different company
accounts.
“The funds were meant for the Great Wall Programme of the federal
government meant to check desert encroachment through tree planting.”
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