A former Minister of State for Defence,
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has signed an undertaking to return N480m to
the Federal Government, The PUNCH has learnt.
Obanikoro has also submitted his United
States of America and Nigerian passports to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.
In addition, the ex-minister has provided two sureties who are directors in the Federal Civil Service.
Impeccable sources told
our correspondent that these were part of the conditions given to the ex-minister for his release.
A source said, “The EFCC asked Obanikoro
to submit his passports. He was only willing to drop his Nigerian
passport but he has finally submitted the American one. He was asked to
produce two directors, who must also present a three-month salary pay
slip.
“He has returned N100m and has pledged
to return N480m. The actual balance is meant to be N685m, but he was
able to provide receipts for some transactions. He paid N85m to someone
and that person has been traced.
“He also bought some bulletproof
vehicles when he was minister and they will be handed over to the EFCC.
The cost of the vehicles will be deducted from the amount that should be
returned. Having met the conditions, he should be released any time
from now.”
Obanikoro, who left the country around
June 2015, was detained by the EFCC on October 17, 2016, after returning
and surrendering himself to the commission in Abuja.
He was detained for his alleged role in
the diversion of N4.7bn from the imprest account of the Office of the
National Security Adviser.
The money was said to have been paid
into the bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company in which his two
sons, Babajide and Gbolahan, were directors at the time.
Obanikoro reportedly told detectives
that out of the N4.7bn, he paid N3.880bn to Ayodele Fayose and Senator
Iyiola Omisore in July 2014, when they were the Peoples Democratic Party
governorship candidates of Ekiti and Osun states respectively.
However, detectives challenged Obanikoro with evidence that he also received N785m from the money and asked him to return it.
A source at the EFCC said, “Obanikoro
claimed that he used part of his own share to do an anti-Boko Haram
campaign in Lagos in 2014. However, we found out that he wasn’t telling
the whole truth because some of the money was spent on his governorship
campaign when he was contesting against Jimi Agbaje during the PDP
primary.
“So, we asked him to return his own share of the money and he has promised to do so.”
Part of the money allegedly given to
Fayose was converted to $5.377m and handed to him at Spotless Hotel, Ado
Ekiti, in the presence of the then Ekiti State PDP Secretary, Tope
Aluko, and other party stalwarts.
Abuja bizman loses filling station, complex to commission
Meanwhile, the EFCC has seized a filling
station and a shopping complex from a man who described himself as a
building engineer, Abdullahi Rilwan, for failing to explain where he got
the money to buy the properties.
The EFCC Act Section 71 (b) gives the
commission the power to commence investigations into the property of any
person if it appears to the EFCC that the person’s lifestyle and extent
of properties are not justified by law.
The EFCC said in a statement by its
spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Thursday, that Rilwan was also
arrested for offences bordering on operating a land racketeering
syndicate, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of classified
documents, obtaining by false pretences and money laundering.
According to the commission, the suspect
was first accosted in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja during a separate
investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement fraud.
Detectives were said to have visited the
area to verify the ownership of several properties suspected to be
proceeds of money laundering.
In the course of investigating the
ownership of a filling station and a shopping complex both still under
construction, located along Pegi Road in the Kuje Area Council,
operatives gathered that Rilwan was in charge of the construction work.
The statement added, “Rilwan, who was
subsequently engaged, denied ownership of the station but confirmed he
was the engineer in charge of the construction work. He admitted to
being the owner of the shopping complex. He also told operatives that he
was the owner of two companies, Kaibo Oil and Gas and Kaibo Properties,
but could not account for his source of wealth.
“A visit to his office, however, revealed that he was involved in several shady and suspicious business deals.”
It was learnt that the revelation made EFCC operatives to beam its searchlight on Rilwan’s business activities.
Subsequently, on October 31, a search and arrest warrant was executed at his Kuje residence.
The statement added, “The search
unearthed several implicating documents in his custody, many of which he
uses to sell plots of land. Properties recovered from his residence in
Kuje included letter-heads in the name of Kuje Area Council, allocating
plots of land, an ‘Irrevocable Power of Attorney’ in favour of Air
Commodore Bassey Inyang, a ‘Right of Occupancy’ document granted to
Henryville Farms, Abuja, among other implicating documents.
“The filling station and the complex are
currently under investigation and he would be charged to court as soon
as investigations are concluded.”
SOURCE::PUNCH
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