Revealed: Oke Runs Nia Accounts Alone 

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, (THEWILL) – Officials of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) have told the Presidential Panel investigating the source of the controversial N43bn discovered at the Osborne Towers, Lagos, that the embattled NIA boss, Ayo OKE runs the Agency’s accounts alone.

The NIA officials accused Oke of running a non-inclusive management with the Deputy Director Admin and the Deputy Director Operations as he left them out of important policy decisions.

According to sources, the officials stated that Oke did inform the National Security Adviser (NSA) about the project but failed to make make full disclosure and did not inform the NSA of the money kept at the Osborne Towers which belongs to the agency and exclusively reported by THEWILL.

Oke was said to have relied on the instrument of NIA procedures which states that: “The Director-General is responsible to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for proper expenditure and accounting of all funds made available to the agency from the security votes.

“The accounts of the NIA shall not be subject to external audit, but the Director-General shall by the first week of March every year, render to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces certificates showing the total sums expended during the preceding period and the mission under which the expenditure was made and copy the National Security Adviser.”

The officials also claimed that Oke failed to inform the NSA that the company he used to purchase the Osborne flat belonged to his wife, citing the imperatives of operational application of need to know, saying his action amounted to a conflict of interest.

On the other hand, the panel, led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, is in custody of a letter from the NSA to the President, dated 24th March, 2016, in which he said that Oke has briefed the NSA on two projects of the NIA in Lagos and Abuja approved by the former President Goodluck Jonathan for which money was released.

The NSA letter reads: “Based on this, the office of the NSA carried out preliminary investigation during which the NIA claimed that the money was released for some projects aimed at commemorating the agency's 30th Anniversary.”

The concluding paragraph of NSA's letter to President Buhari said: “though these are noble objectives, the possibility exists for the proceeds to be misused in the future by NIA leadership.”

Another document before the Committee is the NSA's letter to the NIA Director-General referenced NSA/332/S which empanelled and mandated a 3-man verification team to conduct a comprehensive inspection on the NIA projects in Lagos and Abuja.

“In accordance with constituted guarantee relating to the establishment and structure and constituted guarantee and duties of the NIA enshrined in the paragraph 12, sub-section 2, the office of NIA henceforth take the task of verifying the current state of the projects and associated records,” the letter read.

The NSA's letter concluded that “the NIA is hereby required to avail the NSA bi-annual updates on these projects until completion.”