Femi Fani Kayode has no plans to refund N26m to EFCC

Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has said he is not planning to return N26m to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as widely reported.

Fani-Kayode in a statement released on Monday said the case against him was adjourned because a new lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN) took over the case and needed more time to study it.

The ex-minister said, “Reports that are coming out that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has agreed to return N26m to the EFCC in an attempt to settle his case at the Abuja Federal High Court out of court with them are false.

“The matter was adjourned in the Abuja Federal High Court primarily because a new lawyer in the person of Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN) is now handling the case and he needed time to be properly briefed on the matter and to go through the file.

“Under no circumstances will Chief Fani-Kayode pay any money back to the EFCC or any other government agency because he never collected any money from any government agency in the first place. The reports are false, embarrassing and mischievous.”

The spokesperson for the Goodluck Jonathan campaign in 2015 is standing trial for allegedly receiving N26m from the office of the National Security Adviser.