EFCC detains wife of Jonathan’s late CSO over ‘N69bn fraud’

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has detained Ngozi Olojeme, the widow of Felix Obuah, the late chief security officer of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Olojeme was deputy chairman, finance committee of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation in the 2015 election.

Quoting sources, PUNCH said the woman, who was chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) between 2009 and 2015, was arrested for allegedly diverting N69bn from the agency.

NSITF is a social insurance scheme designed to provide compensation to employees who suffer from occupational accidents or diseases in the line of duty.

It is funded by deducting one percent from all government and private sector employees enrolled in the scheme.

The anti-graft agency had declared her wanted in June.

She was said to have fled the country shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari fired her in 2015.

The newspaper said a detective at the commission disclosed that the suspect turned herself in on Monday.

“After months of running, Mrs Olojeme finally turned herself in. She is currently being detained and we have identified most of her properties,” the detective reportedly said.

Olojeme’s travails reportedly began after the EFCC received a petition alleging that over N50bn from the employee compensation scheme fund, paid by ministries departments and agencies and private companies.

Another N18bn, being the contributions of the federal government as take-off grants to the NSITF, was allegedly mismanaged and diverted into the personal accounts of Olojeme and Umar Abubakar, managing director of the NSITF.

“It was discovered that the NSITF accounts in some banks have witnessed a total turnover of over N62,358,401,927 between 2012 and 2015 from the Employee Compensation Scheme contributions,” read a report PUNCH said it obtained from the EFCC.

“That out of the N62bn, the Federal Government contributed N13,600,000,000 while the sum of N48,758,401,927.80 was contributed by the private sector. That there were several payments to individuals and companies from the NSITF bank accounts for purported contracts or consultancy services.

“That some individuals and companies that received these payments, in turn, transferred parts of the funds directly to the NSITF officials while others transferred huge sums to bureau de change operators who changed them to dollars.”