Ayodele Oke, former
director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and Folashade, his
wife, were on Friday absent at the federal high court in Lagos where they were
to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The agency had filed a four-count
charge against them in connection with $43 million, £27,000 and N23 million
reportedly stashed in a flat in Ikoyi, Lagos in April 2017.
NIA had claimed ownership of the
funds, saying they were part of “covert intelligence operations” but there was
public outcry that it was a case of looting.
President Muhammadu Buhari
subsequently ordered Oke’s dismissal following the recommendation of a
three-man panel headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Shortly after it was announced
that the EFCC had charged Oke to court, a source said that the spy
chief and his wife were not in the country.
They were said to have gone to an
European country“for medical reasons”.
Sources in the intelligence
community had revealed that subjecting Oke to open trial might compromise the
nation’s security operations.
“Most of the projects financed by
NIA from the funds are aimed at gathering intelligence and these things are
usually done through cash transactions. Government might have succumbed to
public sentiments to treat it as a crime, but there will be dire consequences
for the nation’s security operations,” an NIA operative had said.
Bolaji Akinyemi, former external
affairs minister, had also opposed the open trial of Oke.
In a statement, Akinyemi, an
expert in international affairs, law and diplomacy, had said the exposure of
the agency to the public could pose a serious threat to officers of NIA, noting that, “ normally, foreign
intelligence activities are shrouded in secrecy, and not in the glare of
publicity.”
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