N162m fraud: EFCC grills Okupe, grants him bail on health ground

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been grilling a former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, for the last one week for allegedly receiving N85m from embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), Punch reports.

The EFCC, however, did not detain him but afforded him the privilege of coming from home due to a heart condition Okupe reportedly suffers. Apart from allegedly receiving money from Dasuki, the former presidential aide is also accused of receiving dubious contracts to the tune of N76m from a local council in Niger State.

According to investigators at the anti-graft agency, Okupe was first invited on June 22, 2016 over fresh allegations bordering on illicit payments received from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser, which is domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A source at the EFCC said, “Okupe was quizzed over N50m which he collected in cash from the former NSA, without record or accountability. Another company that is linked to Okupe, Abraham Telecoms Limited, allegedly received N35.5m from the NSA through the CBN.

“We also got evidence that a company owned by him, Romic Soil Fix International Limited, received N63m from Chanchaga Local Government council of Niger State and another N13.5m from the same council, for reasons that are not stated.

“We were told that the payments from Chanchaga Local Government to Romic were made on November 21, 2014, during the Peoples Democratic Party’s primary election and February 13, 2015, just before the general elections.

“He has not been able to explain the receipts and has been asked to be reporting at intervals. The reason he is not detained is because he claimed to have a heart condition and presented a medical report to back up the claim.”

It will be recalled that Okupe had openly confessed on his official Twitter handle on May 7 that he received money from Dasuki on several occasions for the running of his office. Okupe, who served under Jonathan from 2012 to 2015, however, said he had nothing to do with the arms scam which reportedly cost the country over $15bn in stolen funds.