Lai on Ikoyi cash controversy: We have authentic, fake whistleblowers… it’s so complex

The federal government has not been able to pay the five percent commission of the monies recovered from an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos because of the existence of several claimants.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said the situation is very complex because “we have the authentic and fake whistleblowers”.

Vanguard quoted the minister as saying this during a visit to Leadership Newspaper on Tuesday.

“It is a bit complicated because more than one person is claiming the money and we do not want to disclose the identity of the whistleblower,” he said.

“We have a very unique situation in our hand at the moment; it is so complex and complicated. One said we should not pay the other and the other one has gone to court.

“Now we have the authentic whistleblower and fake whistleblower, we hope to find out the real person. Ordinarily, a whistle blower should be anonymous. However, we are working very closely to ensure that such thing never happens again.”

Abdulmunmini Musa, who claims to have been instrumental in the discovery of the monies, has filed a suit against the federal government at the federal high court, Abuja.

Musa is seeking an order which will compel the ministry of finance and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to include him as a beneficiary.

The initial claimants; Bala Maina, Steven Sunday, and one Sherrif, have also filed a suit seeking an injunction restraining Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, from excluding them from the payment of the whistleblowing fees.