By Victor ‘Tunde Oso

A whistleblower, John Okpurhe, has sued the Federal Government alleging its refusal to pay his commission on the recovery he made to the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice in 2018.

Okpurhe, in suit number M/9293/2020 filed by his lawyer, Elochukwu Nweke at an Abuja High Court yesterday, seeking enforcement of his human rights with Abubakar Malami SAN, Alhassan Dantata, Inspector General of Police, and the Nigerian Police as respondents.

The Whistleblower claimed in the suit that he and an ex-militant leader, Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a. General Akpodoro, had approached the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami sometimes in 2018 dwelling on the Whistleblowing Policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria, which encourages members of the public to reveal any suspicious act of corruption to the authority resulting in a stipulated entitlement, being a fraction or percentage from the amount recovered through the Whistleblower.

Okpurhe, in his statement of claim, a copy of which was made available to Vanguard, the Chief Law Officer of the Federation reportedly directed them to the Head of Assets Recovery in same ministry, Mrs. Ladidi Mohammed, to whom all information concerning the amount that was suspiciously hidden in a bank account belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), with an undeclared sum of $1,034,515,000.

All the due diligence were said to have been carried out by the Head of Assets Recovery, who in turn allegedly recommended a ‘private person’ to guide them and fund the process worth N200 million, according to her at which point Okpurhe said the ministry brought one Alhassan Dantata, into the deal.

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The Whistleblower stated further that Alhassan Dantata, on the prompting of Mohammed had demanded 60% from the entitlement meant to be due to the Whistleblower, which was reluctantly agreed upon.

Shockingly, Okpurhe noted that, in spite of all efforts put into the recovery of the loot, Malami and Ladidi Mohammed made tacit turn and started threatening the two friends who brought the information to them in a bid to deny them their entitlement. By this time, they alleged that their guardian, Alhassan had already withdrawn his services to them.

Efforts to make Ladidi pay their entitlement after recovery of the sum from the bank account failed. At a point, she told the Whistleblowers that there was no such money in the said account after their various signatures on the Memorandum of Understanding MoUs signed and the money removed. Reasons given further after she exhausted the argument was that there was a litigation over the money.

As it stands, Okpurhe and Akpodoro alleged in their statement that the Ministry of Justice has unleashed the security agencies including men of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) on them to silence them at all cost. “They have been ordered to bring us dead or alive over our sterling efforts at supporting the war against corruption.”

Not without resistance, Okpurhe and Akpodoro have approached an Abuja High Court seeking protection from incessant harassment in suit number: M/9293/2020 with: Abubakar Malami, Alhassan Dantata, Inspector General of Police, the Nigerian Police as respondent in the right enforcement case filed today – August 24, 2020.

Among other prayers, the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce their fundamental human rights to life, to freedom of movement without molestation from all the security agencies including the Nigerian Police Force, the State Security Service (SSS) and any other security organization that may be caused to harass the Whistleblowers pending the determination of the substantial suit which were duly served on the agencies.

VANGUARD