Money laundering: Nigerians didn’t get right justice on Doyin Okupe – Sowore

Presidential candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore said Nigerians have yet to get the right justice with the treatment of the case of Doyin Okupe, the embattled Director-General of Peter Obi Campaign Organization.

Sowore stated this on Friday while speaking in an interview with Politics Hub, a Vanguard Online TV’s political show.

Recall that Okupe was found guilty guilty of breaching the Money Laundering Act and convicted by the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu.

Okupe, however, resigned his position, in a letter to his principal, the Presidential Candidate of the party, Peter Obi, which according to him, was to enable him pursue his corruption case in Court.

But, in the course of the interview, the AAC presidential candidate told the anchor of the Vanguard TV show, Damilola Ogunsakin that he (Sowore) was the first person to accuse Okupe openly of money laundering.

He said, “I had an encounter with Doyin Okupe 2013 on Al Jazeera and accussed him openly of money laundering and that he should not be speaking on behalf of Nigerians. He first laughed and claimed that I was paid to malign him.

“Nine years later the judgement came that he was engaging in money laundering, but nobody remembers me anymore regarding nine years ago that I encountered him on Al Jazeera and accused him publicly on international channel that he was enaging in money laundering,” he added.

According to Sowore, what is painful about it (Okupe’s case) is that it took nine years for Nigerians to get justice, adding that “for somebody who stole N720 million is asked to refund N13 million. What fraction of justice is that? It’s wrong.”

He said, “He (Okupe) should have been made to refund that amount plus the bank interest rate since the time the money was traced to his account.

“He didn’t get the proper justice (conviction). They were accusing him of being in possession of an amount of money higher than is allowed – N65 million. They did not accuse him directly that he was engaging in money laundering.

“I guess he must have made some arrangements because you could see that he was confident during the first session of the trial when he was convicted but had not been sentenced.

“He was saying everybody should calm down, so when the sentence came for him to go and pay 13 million or go to 2 years in jail, before 4:20 pm he had already paid the money and nobody is asking even within the media where he got the money from.

“I hope it’s not the contribution of members of Labour Party, because that will be another crime of money laundering because I don’t know that Doyin Okupe has a real job,” he said.

(Vanguard)