Death Threats Escalate as Tinubu’s Special Investigator Probes Dangote Group’s $3.4 Billion Forex Fraud

Following the recent launch of a probe into illegal foreign exchange deals and money laundering running to a whopping $3.4billion allegedly perpetrated by a major player in Nigeria’s private sector under the Godwin Emeifele-led Central Bank of Nigeria over the past 10 years, President Bola Tinubu-appointed Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, has been receiving fresh death threats from anonymous callers, it has been  learnt.

A pro-transparency group, Coalition for Transperency and Economic Reforms (COTER) raised the alarm in a statement signed by its President, Dr. Peter Chima, on Thursday.

He explained that credible information available to COTER revealed that Obazee and members of his household have since his appointment been getting death threats from some faceless vested interests, including some members of the powerful Aso Rock cabal.

But the threat to his life, family and committee members was intensified in the last few days that the investigation into latest petition against a major private sector player in the Nigerian economy began in earnest.

The death threats, according to the group had been coming through direct calls to their phones and SMS messages.

The group added that the anonymous callers, “we were informed have been demanding that Obazee and members of his team turn their searchlight away from the allegations against the private conglomerate and other high profile cases.

“We further learnt that Obazee, members of his investigating committee and even family members have in the past few days continued to receive fresh death threats from these anonymous callers, asking them to immediately stop the ongoing probe by the Obazee-led panel or risk losing their lives and those of their loved ones.

“They were also said to have boasted about plans to handsomely induce Presidency and other senior Federal Government officials  to influence the stoppage of the ongoing investigations by Obazee and his team.

“The cabal, prominent Nigerians, business moguls and some top aides of the President, it was learnt, have since Obazee’s appointment been making efforts to either blackmail him or induce him to compromise his investigations of some high profile cases. But the Special Investigator, it was learnt, has continued to resist them by blocking all avenues through which they can reach him.

Obazee’s ‘obstinacy and stubbornness’ have been creating fears in the minds of top officials of some Federal Government agencies and those of several other GBEs, as well as some highly placed Nigerians on the ongoing probe of the apex bank and the GBEs. They are said to have been reaching out to powerful politicians in the Presidency to save them and their organisations from being exposed by the Special Investigator.

“But having failed in their bid to intimidate and blackmail Obazee to submission, it was gathered that some of the  officials, who had allegedly collected huge sums of money from some of those being investigated by Obazee with the promise to ensure the Special Investigator is stopped from further probing them, have lately been cooking up a narrative to discredit Obazee before President Tinubu.

“The cabal recently deliberately started to spread a rumour that that Obazee had got N8billion largesse from the embattled ex-CBN Governor, Emefiele, through a serving Senator From one of the South-East states.

“This rumour, we learnt, is aimed at threatening the Special Investigator to back down on the high profile cases of corruption he’s currently handling or giving those they had collected bribes from a clean bill of health to eventually get them off the hook.

“But since the Special Investigator is not yielding to their pressures and demands, while it has also become practically impossible for them to refund the money collected as bribes, the cabal and other powerful persons have resorted to bringing down Obazee and members of his team at all cost and influence the President to disband the committee in order to cover up their misdeeds.