$2.1m seized cash: Ex-NHIS boss appears before EFCC

Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Olufemi Thomas has voluntarily submitted himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to clear the air on the $2.1million cash seized at the Murtala Muhammded International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja- Lagos.

One Mr. Ibiteye Bamidele, a bureau de change operator who was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for being in possession of the $2.1m cash suspected to be laundered, had implicated the ex-NHIS boss.

The suspect was however declared wanted by the EFCC on Thursday on the suspicion that he had absconded to evade justice.

But Thomas, a former Commissioner for Health in Ekiti State voluntarily submitted himself for interrogation on Friday at EFCC Headquarters in Abuja but denied that he was planning to run away because he did not get any invitation from the anti-graft agency.
Dressed in a white brocade, Dr. Thomas who arrived the EFCC around 10: am was drilled by the commission’s operative to ascertain his level of complicity.

He was released at about 2:pm. However, the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren could not be reached as at press time to confirm the interrogation.

His media aide, Mr. Sola Adeyemi had in a statement described his boss as a thoroughbred professional and dutiful public servant who would not stand in the face of the law.

The statement reads in part,”Dr. Femi Thomas is a law-abiding public individual that has treatable addresses in Lagos and Ekiti. He is a man that I work with and I know him for his words and actions. As I speak, we are yet to receive any formal invitation from any quarter on the allegation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, my boss is not on the run, he is in Nigeria, he is available and ready to present himself to the EFCC as soon as he is invited.”