SCANDAL! Ooni of Ife’s Popular Chief Revealed as Wife to Top Customs Officer Caught in Shocking 12 Billion Naira Alleged Smuggling Bribery
By THECONSCIENCEng
The recent investigation conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which exposed a network of corruption and bribery among top customs officials in Nigeria, resulted in the indictment of no fewer than 40 senior officers for alleged involvement in accepting bribes from smugglers.
Premium Times reported that funds exceeding N12 billion, purportedly originating from bribes paid by smugglers, were traced to these individuals.
Among the seven top officers implicated for smuggling bribery who were also detained around Yuletide season and later refunded a small fraction of the illicit funds is Kayode Kolade, the Comptroller of the federal operations unit FOU, Zone C, Port Harcourt.
This platform uncovered that Kayode is the husband to Toyin Kolade, a prominent chief and the Iyalaje Oodua to the Ooni of Ife, Ooni Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, a highly revered monarch in the South West region who shares very close ties with the Presidency.
Meanwhile, Toyin who hails from Osun State, same as the Ooni, is a popular socialite known for her opulent lifestyle and flamboyant displays of wealth.
She frequently attends top social functions to shore up recognition as a prominent personality. Known for donning traditional attires and accoutrements expected of a culture advocate, she is also said to wield enormous power and influence. A 32.6billion Naira fraud allegation case against her was struck out in March 2022.
The web of power play and influence may not be unconnected with the intense lobbying reportedly ongoing at the highest level of the federal government in an attempt to cover up the multi-billion-naira scandal.
The anti-graft agency was said to have traced N9.5 billion, suspected to be bribes from smugglers, to Kayode, all of which he was said to have received personally and through proxies between 2015 and 2023.
It was learned that the EFCC detained him for three days in December during which he spent the Christmas Day in detention. He has since refunded a paltry N50 million and committed to refunding N800 million within a short period of time, with the majority of the funds remaining unaccounted for.
The indicted officers were reportedly found to own properties and businesses way above what their earnings as customs officers could cater for but were not prosecuted by the EFCC and have been allowed back to their duty.
Others include Ibrahim Jalo, Hamisu Ibrahim, Madugu Saleh, Mohammed Rabiu, and Nurudeen Musa.
The federal government has also kept mum on the matter, prompting speculations.
The saga serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency, accountability, and the need to address corruption at all levels of society, including within government agencies like the customs service.
