According to a report by The Nation, about N30million savings of late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, who died in 1999 and who was deputy to General Muhammadu Buhari when he served as military head of state between December 31, 1983 and August 1985, is still trapped in the defunct Savannah Bank many years after the bank folded up and the family say all attempt to get the cash for 13 years now, have failed.
Read full story as reported by The Nation newspaper below:
It is understood that the family only got N10million as compensation from the Kwara State Government for the deceased’s farmland at Malete which was worth N100million
The Idiagbon family, it was gathered, had intimated former President Goodluck Jonathan of their predicament in a letter to him towards the end of his tenure
The family which is said to have been left stranded on the strength of the unavailability of the funds is now seeking justice to get its trapped funds from the owners of Savannah Bank
A highly-placed source said: “The family wrote ex-President Jonathan on the trapped funds. The records are there in the presidency. As it is now, there is no hope of getting the N30million for the family unless there is an intervention by the presidency
“This Nigerian served his country diligently and his life-savings should not be allowed to be lost like that. I think the intervention will also enable the presidency to look into the case of other depositors of Savannah Bank
“Another issue which came up in the letter had to do with payment of N10million compensation to the family by the Kwara State Government for Idiagbon’s farmland in Malete which the family said was worth N100million
“The family is however not joining issues with the state government other than to set the records straight and put all issues in perspective. Ordinarily, this is a family that should not suffer because its patriarch did not embezzle public funds.
It was unclear if Idiagbon’s final entitlements were paid by the military regime of ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, but the family is after redress for the N30million trapped in Savannah Bank
The operating license of Savannah Bank was revoked in February 2002 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Nation