EFCC Arrest And Remand Senator Musiliu Obanikoro In Custody On Returning To The Country After Been Away In The United States Of America Since Mid-2015
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro,a former Minister of State for Defence,was on Monday questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).Obanikoro, had since 2015 after the guber elections for which he was an aspirant in Lagos state been away in the United States of America. Source revealed on arrival back in Nigeria his first port of call was the Abuja office of the EFCC around 1: 20pm.
The allegations for which the ex-minister is being probbed is reportedly linked with an establishment, Sylvan McNamara, allegedly owned by his sons, which was said to have received N4.7bn from the Office of the then National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) in June, 2014.
It was gathered, after Obanikoro allegedly handed over N1.219bn to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and N1.3bn to Senator Iyiola Omisore, the then Osun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, he directed that about N759,384,300 should be transferred into the accounts of about six bureau de change operators.
The two bureau de change operators that received the bulk of the funds were A.A.G.B.S. Oil and Gas and North Line Limited.
While A.A.G.B.S. received N168m on June 16, 2014, North Line Limited received N835, 000 on July 14; N83,750,000 on June 17; N1,680,000 on September 3, 2014; about N2,325, 300 on September 9; N5,932, 500 on September 17 and N842,500 on July 30.
An aide to Obanikoro, who accompanied the ex-minister to the EFCC, told the commission that he visited a bureau de change operator on the instruction of Obanikoro and collected over $1m on behalf of the ex-minister and handed it over to him (ex-minister).
Obanikoro could not deny the statement when confronted with the evidence including receipts.
Sources at the EFCCalso disclosed Obanikoro informed the operatives that he was ill and was on medication while pleading with them to let him go home. He reportedly mentioned to them that he had recently had a spinal cord surgery and was still recuperating.
In alliance with his claims, Obanikoro was said to have arrived at the commission with a bag containing drugs, toiletries and other items.
An EFCC Source said: “He has been cooperating with us. He has made useful statements but we still need him to shed more light on the main issues.
“He came with a bag load of drugs and told us that he was treating himself. We will keep him here for now,” .
Detectives however had assured the ex-minister that the EFCC had a clinic and an ambulance in case of emergency.
