Who owns the huge stash of foreign currencies and naira notes discovered by operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday at a posh four-bedroom apartment on the 7th floor of a residential building at Osborne Towers located at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos?
The million dollars question is one Nigerians have been trying to find an answer to since the EFCC announced that it has discovered 43.4 million dollars, £27,800 and N23.2 million in the Lagos apartment on Wednesday evening. the commission said in a statement on its Facebook page.
The social media has especially been on fire, with various speculation on the likely owner of the apartment where the monies were found.
The facility is said to be owned by Osborne Towers Resident Association. But the owner of the facility has not, at least, publicly disclosed the identity of the owner of the luxury flat as at the time of writing this story.
While it is expected that the landlord of the apartment will have some explanations for the EFCC later in the day, Nigerians have been playing detective on the likely owner of the huge cash find.
Some of the speculated owners of the apartment on the social media include a former PDP chairman, Adamu Muazu, a principal officer of the Senate as well as a former chief of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Already, the former PDP Chairman has denied ownership of the fund.
But it is expected that the anti-graft agency will eventually clear the doubts of Nigerians on the huge cash which it said was following an operation triggered by a whistle blower’s alert received by its Lagos office on Wednesday morning.
The anti-graft agency said the source alerted it of suspicious movement of bags in and out of a particular apartment in the building in the apartment.
According to the source, the movers of the bags made it look like they were bringing in clothes.
The commission quoted another source, who is conversant with the apartment, as saying that a woman usually appeared on different occasions with ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags.
“She comes looking haggard, with dirty clothes but her skin didn’t quite match her outward appearance, perhaps a disguise”, the source said, according to the EFCC.
“On getting to the building, operatives met the entrance door locked.
“The guards at the gate told the operatives that nobody resides in the apartment, but some persons come in and out once in a while.
“In compliance with the magisterial order contained in the search warrant, the EFCC used minimum force to gain entrance into the apartment,” it said.
According to the commission, monies were found in two of the four bedrooms in the apartment.
A further search by operatives into the wardrobe in one of the rooms revealed that it was warehousing three fireproof cabinets hidden behind its wooden panels, according to EFCC.
An assessment of the content of the cabinets revealed neatly arranged US Dollars, Pound Sterlings and some Naira notes in sealed wrappers.
Preliminary findings, the EFCC said, indicated that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.
The commission said an investigation into the discovery had started.
