Why We Won’t Release Names Of Looters – Osinbajo
Yemi Osinbajo – Nigeria’s Vice President[/caption]
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday, explained why the federal government refrained from publishing the names of those it recovered looted funds from.
Osinbajo gave the explanation during a meeting he had at the Presidential Villa, Abuja with a delegation of the European Union led by the EU Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Michel Arrion.
Recall that last week Saturday, the Federal Government said it had recovered a total of N115.7bn looted funds, while assets worth over N1.9tn had been frozen in one year.
The government said the recoveries were made between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016, giving the breakdown of the loot as N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250.
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A conversion of the funds using the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria, showed that the amount adds up to N115,792,760,499.
Although, the refusal of the government to publish the names of those the monies were recovered from has been largely criticized, a statement issued by the Vice-Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, explained that releasing the names of looters will jeopardise further investigation.
“We have released the list of recovered loot, we know people are asking for the names, but releasing the names may jeopardize ongoing investigations,” he said.
