N4 billion Magu bribe: Osibanjo writes IGP, wants allegation investigated

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday wrote the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Mohammed, asking for the investigation of the allegation that he received the sum of N4 billion from the funds allegedly stolen by the embattled acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

The letter followed the denial of the allegation in a statement by Laolu Akande, the spokesperson for the vice president on Wednesday evening.

The Vice President, in a letter to the IGP through his lawyers, Taiwo Osipitan, on Wednesday also asserted that the claim by the US-based blogger as untrue and defamatory.

“On the 8th of July 2020, Mr Ude wrote and published on his website www.pointblanknews.com materials/stories which are criminally defamatory of our client. We have the instructions of our client that the said publications are injuriously false in every respect,” the lawyer said in the letter which was also copied to Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice.

Ude also repeated the allegation on Twitter, where he tweeted, “HushBajo. N4billion. The Ghana investment. Okechukwu Enelamah the errand boy. The secretly recorded night vigil prayers at the Villa Chapel. The letter of resignation written for Buhari in Tunis by Tinubu/Osinabjo while Ba was sick. The scheming to take over. Etc. This na pay back https://t.co/vgIHZlQR6c.

According to the lawyer, the tweet, shared on several social media platforms portrayed the vice president as a “dishonest and disloyal public officer and consequently unfit for the position of the vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which he is occupying.” the official said.

He therefore asked IGP to investigate the allegations and if the purveyor was found guilty, the police should initiate criminal proceedings against Mr Ude and his platform to restrain them from future ‘false publications’.

The Office of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had on Wednesday strongly responded to the tweets and online publications Ude on PointBlank News and Newsreel.com.ng credited to Ude that he received the sum of N4 billion from the embattled acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC as ‘totally false and baseless.’

While affirming that it has asked the security agencies to investigate the claims which, according to him defamatory in nature, the office of the Vice President said, ” In essence, Ude’s story is that “embattled former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, allegedly embezzled over N39 billion and gave Vice President Yemi Osinabjo (sic) N4 billion, after the VP gave instructions to him to release some of the recovered loots…” The same Jackson Ude has also been circulating a video on YouTube with a female commentator, peddling the same lies.