A former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has informed a Federal High Court in Abuja how the inability of a defunct commercial bank (Diamond Bank) to handle huge amount of money prompted the airlifting of about N1.219billion cash to former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose for governorship election in the state.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Fayose and his firm, Spotless Investment Limited, following their alleged involvement N6.9 billion money laundering.
In his testimony before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, Obanikoro explained how the huge cash was airlifted from Lagos in two aircraft.
When the lawyer to EFCC, Mr Wahab Shittu (SAN), asked him to shed light on the source of the said N1.219billion, Obanikoro replied that he did not know the source of the money .
He added that he only got the information on the money from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), saying that it was the former NSA who told him that the said money had been paid into the account of Sylvan Mcnamara Ltd.
Here are the highlights of Obanikoro’s testimony before Justice Dimgba:
W.K Shittu: Pls tell My Lord all what you know about this matter.
Musiliu Obanikoro: I was a minister under Jonathan administration in 2014. Sometime in 2014, we were going to have election in Ekiti State.
I was saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the activities in the election.
Some days before the election, I got a call from Gov. Fayose asking me if I received any message for him from ONSA, I can recall that prior to that, we had some activities among which was fundraising for the purpose of that election.
When Mr. Fayose called, I told him I would call him later . I had a call conversation with the NSA, and was told he would get back to me. After, he got back to me that N2.2billion was paid into the account of Sylvan Mcnamara Ltd.
The money came came from the NSA. I can’t vouch for the source of the funds. Only the NSA can explain the source of the fund.
The bank lacked capacity to handle the situation. It was a last minute decision- to ferry the money to Ekiti.
I handed over the N1.219million cash to Agbele for onward delivery to Fayose. I did not take any money or N19million, contrary to the publication by a Lagos-based online platform.
Shittu: What is your relationship with Sylvan Mcnamara Ltd?
Obanikoro: The account was created to deal with the issue of Boko Haram in Lagos, the account was created by Taiwo Kareem and the account used for the purpose of disbursing funds for election.
I put a call through to let Fayose know that the money had been paid.
Diamond Bank had said it did not have the capacity to make the funds available, so we opted to airlift the fund.
The funds were airlifted from Lagos in two tranches, the volume was much.
Shittu: How many were involved ?
Obanikoro: Myself, my ADC and my security orderly was there, head of the personnel from Fayose to meet Mr. Agbele, the bank manager.
I instructed my orderly to escort the Bank Manager and Agbele and ensure the safe delivery of the money.
Shittu: What was the funds meant for?
Obanikoro: it was meant for our election in Ekiti
Shittu: The funds came from where?
Obanikoro: It came from Diamond Bank. N1.219billion was moved from Diamond Bank out of the N2.2billion.
When Shittu asked on his relationship with Sylvan Mcnamara, Obanikoro replied that the account was created to deal with Boko Haram situation in Lagos.
He added that the bombing in Apapa was played down because of the status of Lagos – commercial
I called Fayose to tell him that the money is in the acct.
He added Diamond in Ado Ekiti said it lacked the capacity.
We airlifted the funds from Lagos in 2 tranches because the aircraft could not accommodate the funds . We used 2aircraft and I’m on one of the aircraft.
I was asked to liaise with Agbele and I instructed my military orderly to accompany the funds to the bank.
On arrival. I met Agbele and the bank managers, I moved to Ado-Ekiti while my orderly moved to the bank. The election was for Ekiti poll and Fayose was our candidate
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