Ayodele Fayose
Fayose and Obanikoro Saga. Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defence, told a Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday how N1.219 billion in cash was airlifted to promote the election of Ayodele Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti State.
According to him, the incapacity of a defunct bank, Diamond Bank, to handle large sums of money forced the money to be airlifted.
Fayose and Spotless Investment Limited are standing trial on 11 charges bordering on money laundering and stealing to the tune of N6.9 billion.
Obanikoro, who was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu (SAN), revealed that the money originated from the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd. ), and that only he could explain its source.
He added that he only got the information about the money from Dasuki, saying that it was the former NSA who told him that the said money had been paid into the account of Sylvan Mcnamara Limited.
“I was a minister under Jonathan’s administration in 2014,” Obanikoro explained. We planned to hold an election in Ekiti State sometime in 2014. I was assigned the task of coordinating election-related activities.
“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 that election.”
He also denied withdrawing the money, as reported by an internet media portal.
“When Mr. Fayose called, I told him I would call him later,” Obanikoro explained. I spoke with the NSA over the phone and was informed he will get back to me. After that, he informed me that N2.2 billion had been deposited into the account of Sylvan Mcnamara Lomited.
“The funds came from the NSA.” Only the NSA knows where the money came from.
Only the NSA knows where the money came from.
The bank lacked the necessary resources to deal with the situation. It was a last-minute decision to transport the funds to Ekiti.
“I handed over the money to Agbele for delivery to Fayose.” Contrary to what a Lagos-based internet outlet reported, I did not take any money or N19 million.”
When queried about his link with Sylvan Mcnamara Limited, Obanikoro stated that the account was initially formed to combat terrorism in Lagos before being used to disperse election donations.
“The account was created to deal with the issue of Boko Haram in Lagos, the account was created by Taiwo Kareem, and the account was used to disburse funds for election,” he explained.
“I made a phone call to notify Fayose that the money had been paid.” Diamond Bank stated that it lacked the capacity to make the monies available, therefore we chose to airlift the funds. The funds were airlifted from Lagos in two tranches, the volume was much.”
After listening to Obanikoro’s testimony, the presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba adjourned the case till February 27, 2024.