Ikoyi whistleblower has suffered serial detentions, Odinakalu punctures ‘millionaire’ claim

A human rights lawyer, Chidi Odinakalu has punctured claim of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, that the man who gave the anti-graft agency information about the monies stashed in an apartment at Ikoyi, Lagos, is now a millionaire.
In a series of tweet on Friday, the lawyer who was reacting to Mr. Magu’s claim on the change of status of the whistleblower, pointed out that he has suffered serial detentions rather than been compensated as the EFCC boss suggested.
On Thursday while speaking at a programme in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Magu said the whistleblower had earned millions from his information and that the anti-angraft agency are in the process of counselling him (whistleblower) on how to make good use of the money.
“We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen one million naira of his own before,” he had said.
“So, he is under counselling on how to make good use of the money and also the security implication.
“We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride.”
Under the whistleblower policy, the individual who gives information is entitled to between 2.5 percent and 5 percent of the recovered loot.
But faulting Mr. Magu’s claim, Mr. Odinkalu said the whistleblower, who he claimed to know, has not gotten any monetary reward but had been detained in three different places.
“The claim by @officialEFCC chair, Magu that Ikoyi Billions #Whistleblower “is now a millionaire” is verifiably false,” he wrote on Twitter.
“It’s also false that @officialEFCC has bn working with Ikoyi Whistleblower. Instead, he’s suffered serial detention in 3 difft institutions.
“I know the Ikoyi Billions Whistleblower & can confirm that he’s been despicably treated; his life cld be n danger.”