Doyin Okupe to be arraigned by EFCC as he fails to return N120m

Former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs under Goodluck Jonathan administration, Dr Doyin Okupe is to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 59 count charges bordering on money laundering and criminal diversion of public funds and receiving about N120m when he “ought to have known that the said fund formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), the then National Security Adviser.”

It was learnt that Okupe will be arraigned before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Maitama for his inability to refund the said sum.

Okupe, who was a strong spokesman under former President Jonathan between 2012 and 2015, admitted on social media that he received N10m monthly from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) based on the instruction of Jonathan.

According to Okupe, the money was meant for a programme on NTA known as ‘Insight’ which showcased the achievements of Jonathan.

In his statement, Okupe said, “The initial N50m was approved by the President to be paid to me from his security vote. N10m was to furnish my rented living apartment and another N10m for my office. The balance of N30m was approved as take-off grant.

“The N10m I received from the ONSA monthly was to run my office, pay salaries of staff, including overheads, pay expenses for our numerous press conferences, pay for publications in newspapers, magazines, local and foreign, television programmes, bulletins, and media consultants who assisted and facilitated our work. I had about 23 employees, 11 were graduates out of which five were master’s degree holders.”

“We paid NTA about N1.2m monthly for airtime. Two presenters were paid N600, 000 monthly. The lead presenter on Insight earned N400,000 and the second presenter earned N200,000. Total N600,000.

“We paid for tapes and editing per programme. Besides, we also paid honorarium for guests either directly or in form of hotel bills for those outside Abuja, or transportation.”

However, Mr Sola Atere, who was the Executive Director (News) of the NTA, denied that the station received any money from Okupe.

According to him, the programme was done free of charge as part of the station’s Corporate Social Responsibility.