BIG LETTER THIEF: HOW DELTA LAWMAKER MICHEAL DIDEN EJELE DIVERTED N40 BILLION FROM DESOPADEC TO BUY CHOICE PROPERTIES AND AUTOMOBILES

Secret Reporters

Thieves are opportunist, whether they are amateurs or professionals. They endeavour to take advantage of any situation which provides them with a loophole. An opportunity to take what belongs to someone else. If the situation presents itself, a thief can get away with the act without much effort or planning because committing this type of crime is second nature to them.

Apparently, a perfect analogy would be that of Michael Diden aka Ejele; a failed senatorial aspirant who has been alleged to have looted a jaw-dropping sum of 40 Billion Naira from Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) between 2012 till date after carefully orchestrating a fraudulent scheme.

Multiple documents in possession of SecretReporters unearthed how the scheme entails DESOPADEC paying at regular intervals, a huge amount of money usually N100 million monthly into a designated Unity Bank Current account with the following details: Old account number 345176386601000200, New account number:0016836936, Account name: Oil Facility Surveillance ltd. and a company address: No.1, Ejele close, Sapele, Delta State, which happens to also be his residential home address. This said amount is usually withdrawn as seen by his account statement with us and used to purchase luxury cars and properties splashed all over Nigeria and abroad. Sources claimed that he does not even remember some of their locations.

On one of such occasions, precisely on the 7th of December 2012, a deposit transfer of N100, 000, 000 was made by DESOPADEC to Oil Facility Surveillance Ltd. Subsequently, several withdrawals were made by Michael Diden on the same day with different cheque numbers summing up to N41, 500, 000. SecretReporters gathered that Michael Diden is not alone in this joy ride as it is alleged that his wife Mary Diden, who is indeed playing the role of a “Help Mate” withdrew the sum of N5, 000, 000 from the same account on the very day DESOPADEC made the transfer.

Another company owned by Ejele used in fleecing DESOPADEC of N100 million monthly is Buildup Dimensional Services Ltd, with his residential building in Sapele as the office. The account number for this company is 3450199372010000200 with Unity Bank.

Close sources alleged to this medium that Ejele started this illegal looting when he was appointed the head of security in the Waterways in Warri and its Environs in Delta State. This looting is purported to have given him the financial capability to acquire numerous properties and exotic cars all over Nigeria and abroad.

Fact check reveals that the pipeline monitoring job given to Ejele and his companies, through which he allegedly helped himself with state funds is exclusively a Federal Government project and not under the state.

SecretReporters can authoritatively reveal that a fresh petition calling for the arrest and prosecution of Ejele as well as forfeiture of the properties is being pursued vigorously at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Special Panel for Investigation and Prosecution (SPIP), who recently seized properties belonging to the Senate Deputy President, Senator Bassey Albert and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

Calls placed to Ejele were not picked.