In 2006, EFCC 'Detained' Tinubu's Appointee, Muhammed Babangida - FIJ

 FLASHBACK: In 2006, EFCC 'Detained' Tinubu's Appointee Muhammed Babangida Over Globacom Ownership

On July 18, President Bola Tinubu appointed Muhammed Babangida, the son of Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state of Nigeria, as the chairman of the Bank of Agriculture.

It was rumoured that the younger Babangida had rejected the president’s appointment.

On July 21, however, the chairman-designate officially accepted the appointment offered by Tinubu.

While accepting the offer, Babangida said rumours of the appointment rejection were false and the entities behind the “fake report” would be identified and held accountable.

Interestingly, it was once reported that the former military leader’s son was once detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Neither Babangida nor the EFCC addressed the incident or shared more details afterwards.

EFCC DETENTION OVER GLOBACOM SHARES

In August 2006, the EFCC detained Babangida over an allegation that he owned and controlled 24 per cent of Globacom, a telecommunications service provider in Nigeria.

At the time of Babangida’s reported arrest, Globacom was worth $1.5 billion.

Prior to the incident, Babangida had once been invited by the commission to explain how he came about the wealth used in purchasing the shares at Globacom, but he denied knowledge of such investments.

The commission later claimed it got to confirm Babangida indeed had such shares with the Nigerian telco through revelations made by Mike Adenuga, the founder of the company.

Babangida was later released by the commission. The commission gave no public update on the matter.

On Monday, FIJ emailed Dele Oyewale, the spokesperson of the EFCC. FIJ asked why the outcome of the investigation carried out by the commission on Babangida was never made public, but the email had received no response at press time.