Osbornegate, Whistleblower and the Madness Nexus

POSLSCOPE with Eddy Odivwri Email: eddy.odivwri@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 08053069356

The developments about the Osbornegate scandal are becoming very interesting. The huge sum ($43.4 million, N23.2 million, 27,800 British Pounds) recovered from the private flat in Osborne, Ikoyi is still wrapped in some fog.

Yes, the man who announced that he was the one who kept the money there, Ambassador Ayo Oke, former DG of Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) was recently sacked by the federal government. Four days after, he was invited for questioning, along with his wife, Folashade by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

We have not been told in clear terms who owns the money. Mr Oke was sacked apparently because his story on how the money found its way into a private apartment did not add up. So who owns the money?

But while Nigerians awaited the full details of the recovered sum, a more intriguing development occurred. The man who blew the whistle that led to the recovery of the money had asked for his agreed fee. Suddenly, the Ministry of Finance which seemed to have been dithering on paying the fellow, first explained that the Ikoyi whistle blower would be paid before the end of the month, as he has been slated for the next batch of payments.

The next chapter of the story is that the man is mentally unstable and that paying him that humongous sum— N850 million— will just worsen his mental state as he would “simply run mad”.

The man has maintained that he is not mad, stressing that all he needs is his money. His lawyer, Mr Yakubu Galadinma had explained that his client is not sick. That he was merely shouting that he be paid. The EFCC had taken the whistle bower to a psychiatric hospital and he was eventually released. But the money remains unpaid.
The next chapter now is that nine persons have suddenly emerged as having blown the whistle that led to the recovery. Unconfirmed reports say that the name of the original man (the “mad” whistle blower) has been yanked off the new list.

Hmmmm… if the man was mad enough to suspect that the huge sum must be illegitimate, and was mad enough to hear of the whistle blowing policy and was yet mad enough to know where to channel his information that led to the huge recovery, I think he should be mad enough to be given his promised money. Haba!

He is mad, yet he knew how to engage a lawyer to pursue his demand, yet he is too insane to handle that huge sum.
Yes, I agree that the parvenu complex could be difficult to manage and so he needs counseling on how to handle and manage the sudden wealth, but it would amount to utmost bad fate to deny him his due.

This could erode public confidence on the policy and the nation will be the loser.
Worse still, the needless drama and furor about the payment is inadvertently exposing the beneficiary to undue danger and risk. It breaches the ethos of secrecy that should govern the identity of the blower.
Let the man be paid his money. He has a family who can help organise him on his new status.

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