Pendulum has enveloped the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) where a level grade 6 officer, Christy Olabode, has been named
in the diversion and theft of at least N70 million belonging to the agency.
Ms. Olabode, who works in the accounts department at the
agency’s headquarters at Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), reportedly stole the
funds by manipulating furniture allowances between 2013 and 2016.
Several sources at the agency, one of them a management
staff, told our correspondent that Ms. Olabode also creamed off funds by
regularly using the names of deceased or retired staff of FAAN to draw funds
from the agency’s accounts.
“The whole fraud was detected by the Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) department earlier in July,” one of our sources
disclosed. He added that FAAN management then issued a query to Ms. Olabode,
disclosing that the alleged fraudster ignored the query.
One other source said Ms. Olabode’s defiant attitude and the
management’s failure to call in law enforcement agents have fueled suspicion
that “Mrs. Olabode might have committed the financial fraud in collaboration
with some top managers and directors in FAAN. These same managers and directors
are trying frantically to thwart further investigation into the scam.”
The alleged fraud started during the scandal-prone tenure of
Stella Oduah as Minister of Aviation.
Our sources said it was likely that banks officials were
involved in the scam.
SaharaReporters obtained documents showing some of the names
Ms. Olabode used to divert funds. In August 2013, the sum of N2,719,699.92 was
lodged into an Eco Bank account, 2501016701, bearing the name of Paul Amaechi
Ihedinihu, a GL 14 officer. In December of the same year, a deposit of
N2,719,699.92 was made into an account number, 0059963039, in the name of
Bright E. Ogbonna at Access Bank. N2,719,699.92 was deposited in the name of
Yahyah A. Sadiq in a Guaranty Trust Bank 0035237900; N1,493,903.52 into another
Guaranty Trust Bank account, 0113269817, in the name of Yunus Olaniyan Agboola.
Ms. Olabode also funneled N2,184,168.96 into a Diamond Bank account,
0031963629, in the name of Adamu Sanusi.
Other names used in the extensive scam included Hurso
Muhammed Hurso, Nnamdi T. Onuchukwu, Haruna Umar, John Uwabuafia Ofodu, Godday
Otunaya, Isaac Joel Okwodu, Blessing Inye Pepple, Habibu Abubakar Adamu, and
Emmanual Gloria Ewoh.
Other banks in which illicit deposits were made included
Oceanic Bank, Fidelity Bank, First City Monument Bank and First Bank.
SaharaReporters learned that Ms. Olabode’s husband is also a
staff of the human resources department at FAAN.
Our sources said numerous staff members were amazed that the
only action taken by the agency’s management was to redeploy Ms. Olabode from
the computer room of the accounts department to a different section in the same
department. “Many of us believe she should have been suspended in order to
allow for free investigation into the matter,” one source stated.
Some of our sources said the management of the agency seemed
scared to invite agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
to investigate Ms. Olabode’s financial malpractices. “May be they [management]
are afraid that, if the EFCC gets involved, then some other scams in FAAN may
be exposed.”
There had been recent allegations of fraud against FAAN’s
managing director, Saleh Dunoma. Some of the agency’s management staff alleged
that the MD owns a stake in a hotel in Singapore and a shopping mall in Dubai.
SaharaReporters
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