Itse Sagay, chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee
Against Corruption (PACAC), says the man who blew
the whistle on the N13bn found in an Ikoyi apartment
is not “sufficiently stable” to handle his N860 million
reward.

The whistleblower had in April tipped off the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of funds
stashed in a four-bedroom apartment on Osborne
Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The anti-graft agency had discovered $43 million,
£27,800 and N23 million in the flat bought in the name
of the wife of Ayo Oke, the sacked director-general of
the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Reacting to the alarm raised by the whistleblower’s
lawyer on the delay in paying his client’s reward,
Sagay said the man will “almost run mental” if the
money is paid to him without proper measures.

He said the government is trying to provide the
whistleblower with counsellors and consultants that
will help him plan on how to invest the money.

“What I gathered from my inquiry is that the man is not
sufficiently stable to receive such a huge sum of
money. He is like someone who will almost run mental
when he gets the money and will use it in an
irresponsible manner, attracting not only undesirable
people but even danger to himself,” Sagay told
PUNCH .

“I think what they wanted to do for him was to provide
counsellors. Not just counsellors for character and
mental situation but counsellors who would be like
consultants that would help him to really invest the
money and plan in such a way that he doesn’t throw it
away in five minutes.

“They are trying to help him. Nobody is denying him
anything. They are trying to help him but he just
misunderstands the intention and like everyone that
has been deprived for a long time, he is so desperate
to have it but from what I can see, if they just give him
everything, it won’t last more than a month or two
because so many people will start finding ways to get
to him and taking their portions from him. So, they
were just trying to help him but he became hysterical.”

Funmi Adeosun, the minister of finance, on Sunday
said the whistleblower will soon be paid his reward .

TheCable