"Ohakim Gave Me $2.29m Cash To Buy Abuja Mansion" - Witness

The ongoing trial of former governor of Imo state, Mr. Ikedi
Ohakim may have taken a new turn as a star witness of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Mr. Abu
Sule, yesterday, narrated before the Federal High Court
sitting in Abuja, how Ohakim gave him $2.29millon at night
to help him acquire a mansion in Abuja. The witness is the
Managing Director of Tweenex Consciates Limited, a
company EFCC is insisting was used by Ohakim to launder
funds that were allegedly stolen from the Imo state treasury.
According to the witness, Ohakim had approached him with
the intention to buy a choice property in Abuja and it was
while on a search mission he discovered that a mansion
situated at No. 60, Kwame Nkrumah Street, Asokoro , was
put up for sale by the owner, one Alhaji Muktari Isah
MaiDebino , for a price of N270million.
In his words, the witness said: “I quickly informed Chief
Ohakim about the house and the price it was going for. He
asked me to come for the money. When I got there, he gave
me the the dollar equivalent of the money. He gave me
$2.29m in cash. I collected the money from him at the Imo
State governor’s lodge in Asokoro, at night. The money was
paid in one tranche.
“The following day I called Alhaji Muktari Maidebino and we
met at Unity Bank in Maitama were he collected the money
and handed over the documents of the house. He used the
money to offset a loan he collected from the bank where he
retrieved the documents. My lord, when I collected the
original title deeds, I informed Chief Ohakim. After a bit of
delay, he said I should use my companies two names for the
Deed of Assignment and Power of Attorney.
“Because he has been my benefactor, I went ahead and did
the documents as he requested. The house was never given
to me as a gift. I handed the originals of the documents to
Chief Ohakim even though I kept the photocopies. I was the
one that signed the documents. After we perfected the
purchase, we used about one and half years to renovate the
house, after which we handed it over to him in 2012”. The
witness further told the court that Ohakim on parking into
the mansion, persuaded him to prepare a tenancy
agreement to make it look like he(Ohakim) rented the
mansion from Tweenex Consciates Limited.