Jonathan released N15bn to NIA for his 2015 campaign– former NIA Deputy Director alleges

A retired deputy director in the National Intelligence Agency, Ibrahim Ibrahim, has alleged that the N15 billion found in an apartment in Ikoyi last week, was part of the money Former President Goodluck Jonathan released through the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for the PDP 2015 campaigns.

According to DailyTrust, Ibrahim who retired in 2006 said Jonathan approved the money for the distribution to PDP chieftains during his campaign period.

The suspended NIA Director General, Ayo Oke, however refused to distribute the said money. “A lot of things have happened; a lot of public officers have actually drifted away from the disciplined course and as a result so many things have happened.

The NIA is not an exception at all. I think what really happened was that the money was issued to the agency (NIA) just in the same way it was given to the NSAs office. President Jonathan approved $289 million or so in November 2014 in excess of the approved budget of the agency.

So, that excess was intended as campaign funds and the agency, the DG NIA in particular, was supposed to disburse the fund but along the way, he found a way of diverting even that one for his own private use,” Ibrahim said. When asked why campaign funds should be channelled through the NIA, Ibrahim, who worked closely with Oke before he retired, said,

“As I mentioned, it was intended as campaign funds and it was diverted the way money was given to NSA Dasuki that was the same way it was given to Ayo Oke. It was not meant specifically for the operations of the agency but a kind of money laundering for the agency to launder the money for PDP chieftains. I think they saw that security agencies are a kind of perfect means through which money laundering for such purposes could be done because it is simply to say the money is for operations”. When asked whether it was normal for huge sums of money to be kept in private homes in the name of covert operations, Ibrahim who claims to have worked closely with the suspended NIA DG, Ayo Oke, said “It’s abnormal; it’s a total lie. There’s no way any operation would be approved and then it would not be conducted in more than two years. As I said, this money was approved in November 2014 and we’re now in April 2017-two years plus! It’s not normal. Certainly President Jonathan approved some money to be laundered through the agency for campaign purposes but he did it as if he was giving the agency allocation of funds for their operations and he did it in excess of their budget,” he said. Speaking on the probable source of the funds, Ibrahim said, “Well, it is possible the money came from the NNPC and it might have come just directly from the Villa; there’re a number of ways,” he said.