EFCC Storms Abuja Residence Of NNPC Official, Nnamdi-Ogbue’s Over $43.4m Recovered Cash

In a follow up to the discovery of the cash stashed away in dollars, pounds sterling and naira denominations in Flat 7, No. 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Thursday afternoon stormed the Abuja residence of the former Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and later Managing Director of NNPC Retail, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue who was retired last week.

According to sources, the money totalling an estimated $43.4 million, comprising $43.3 million, N23 million and £27,000, all in cash, was discovered through a sting operation carried out by the anti-graft agency.

It was uncertain why the operatives were at her Abuja residence, but sources had initially said that the apartment in which the cash was found belongs to Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue.

However, a member of her family, Thursday, he vehemently denied that Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue owns the apartment and cash found in it.

The family member, who preferred not to be named, said that Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue and her family occupy Flat 2B in the building and that her husband and son were in the apartment complex at the time of the EFCC raid on Wednesday.

“They were actually at home on Wednesday, when they heard that EFCC officials were in the building. Nnamdi, her husband, had a slight fever and was at home with his son.

“No one ever came to their apartment at the time of the raid and I can confirm that Esther is in Abuja as we speak,” the family source said.

Another source close to her linked her travails to the fact that she had reported the expropriation of petroleum products belonging to NNPC by Capital Oil and Gas Limited and MRS Oil Plc, to the EFCC and Department of State Services (DSS).

The source said she had obviously stepped on some “very big toes”, hence the move to “deal with her”.

Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue was appointed MD of PPMC in September 2015 and was redeployed a year later to head NNPC Retail by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu when he was still the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the state-run oil firm.

It will be recalled that she and three other officials of NNPC Retail had been recommended for retirement by a committee set up by the current GMD of NNPC to investigate the expropriation of NNPC’s products.