OBANIKORO CONFESSES HANDING OVER $5MN CASH FROM BOKO HARAM ALLOCATION TO FAYOSE
He told the court that “on a Monday in June, 2014 I received a call from Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, when we were approaching the Gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, wanting to know if there is any message from National Security Adviser Col Sambo Dasuki but I replied no’.
“But shortly after his call, a message came in from NSA saying certain amount of money will be received into the account that was opened to manage Boko Haram threat under my watch as Minister of State for Defence. NSA told me that Fayose will call me as to how he will receive the money. A total equivalent of $5 million from National Security Adviser impress account was given to Fayose by the order of NSA.”
Penpushing further reports that, Obanikoro said Fayose introduced one Biodun Agbele to him that he would be the one to receive the money for him which was done in Akure Airport because it was physical cash.”
“I had earlier wanted to transfer the dollars so that the Naira equivalent can be withdrawn in Ado Ekiti, which was the reason why I initially called Diamond Bank M.D but he replied that the bank does not have such capacity in Ado Ekiti for that huge amount of money.”
The Former Minister said due to the inability of the bank to pay the equivalent of the money in naira, he handed physical cash of N200 million to Fayose on June 5, 2014, from the National Security Adviser’s imprest account.
Penpushing also reports that Obanikoro said another N2 billion was paid to the former Governor on the 16th of June 2014 from the same account and also told the court that his late aide was in the meeting where Fayose acknowledged the receipt of a total naira equivalent of $5m at Spotless hotel in Ado Ekiti, owned by Fayose.
The former Governor and his company, Spotless, are being prosecuted for alleged illegal diversion of funds of about N6.9 billion, allegedly received from the office of former National Security Adviser( NSA), Dasuki Sambo. The monies are believed to have been meant for security tasks including funding the war against Boko Haram.
However, counsel to accused, Kanu Agabi, a senior advocate, applied for an adjournment to enable him to cross-examine Obanikoro, adding that he had said a lot in court and he would need time to look through his statements before cross-examining the witness.
Penpushing also reports that, Counsel to the 2nd defendant, Olalekan Ojo, a Senior Advocate, urged the court to adjourn the case to enable him to confer with his client on the evidence of the witness. The judge, Mojisola Olatoregun, subsequently adjourned the case to February 4,5 and 6, 2019.
