In our review of high profile corruption trials today, former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, was caught in contract fraud as he allegedly used his sons, Gbolahan and Jide, to take out government contracts that were never executed.
He was also enmeshed in a N4.7 billion fraud which was traced to companies linked to him.
Read on:
Musiliu Obanikoro – N4.7 billion contract scam
A former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, was on October 17, 2016 grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC accused him of using his sons, Gbolahan and Jide, to take out government contracts that were never executed.
Mr. Obanikoro, on a separate charge, was also implicated in the Ekiti elections scandal.
The EFCC had on October 23, 2016, said Musiliu Obanikoro, will be made to account for the N4.7 billion traced to firms linked to him, if he is found to be culpable.
Meanwhile, Justice Abdulaziz Anka of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on Monday, April 24, 2017, struck out the N100 million fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Obanikoro against EFCC on the grounds of incompetence.
The former minister, his wives, Fati and Moroophat, and sons, Gbolahan and Babajide, had through their counsel, Lawal Pedro, SAN, in the suit, sued the commission for “unlawful invasion of their houses and seizure of some of their properties.”
They urged the court to declare the seizure of items from their houses on June 14, 2016, by the commission as null and void.
However, in his ruling, Justice Anka upheld the preliminary objection by E.E. Iheanacho, counsel to the EFCC, who said:
“Since the main claim of the applicants was founded on tort, their principal reliefs are not maintainable under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009.”
The judge ruled that the Commission had secured search warrants from the Lagos State Magistrate Court to carry out the search on the applicants’ houses.
Justice Anka also refused to declare the recovered items as null and void, so as not to prevent the commission from tendering them as exhibits in the pending criminal case against the applicants.
Also, Justice Y. Halilu of the FCT High Court, sitting in Jabi, Abuja on Monday, February 27, 2017, ordered the forfeiture of a property belonging to Moroophat Obanikoro, the wife of a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.
The forfeiture will be pending until the outcome of investigations of her husband and children.
As part of investigations into the $2.1 billion arms scam involving the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the EFCC had traced the transfer of about N4.7 billion to the Diamond Bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company allegedly owned by Obanikoro’s two sons – Gbolahan and Babajide.
Out of the N4.7 billion, Obanikoro allegedly gave N3.880 billion to Ayodele Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore in July 2014, when they were the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidates in Ekiti and Osun states respectively.
The EFCC subsequently seized a house in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State allegedly belonging to Obanikoro’s sons – Gbolahan and Babajide and a property located at 44, Mamman Kontagora Crescent, Katampe Extension, Abuja belonging to their mother.
However, Obanikoro’s wife argued that she bought the property over seven years before the alleged arms scam took place.
Obanikoro is understood to be targeting N100 million as the first installment of the refund.
From ONSA, about N4.685 billon was transferred to Sylva McNamara Limited, a company allegedly linked to the ex-minister.
At the last trial, Abiodun Agbele, an aide of the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, narrated how he coordinated the movement of N1.2 billion slush fund in the build-up to the Ekiti governorship election in 2014, said Tony Orilade, EFCC’s Acting Head of Media and Publicity who signed the statement.
“At the court hearing, the prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, presented Damola Otuyalo, who gave a vivid account of how the alleged sum was moved out of the local wing of the Lagos Airport and eventually handed over to Obanikoro.”
The witness said 65 “jumbo bags” filled with money were offloaded from the aircraft and he was instructed by his director, through a phone call, to hand over the bags to Obanikoro.
The director’s instruction, Otuyalo added, may be found in exhibit AA13, which was already filed and admitted in evidence.
The former Diamond Bank employee made similar statements to the EFCC in 2016: “We loaded the first aircraft with money and Obanikoro flew with his friends on the first flight.
“The second aircraft was loaded with money but it could not carry all the cash due to the size of the aircraft and the weight it could carry,” he had said.
“I recall that another aircraft was also used to move the final batch of the money from the bullion van.
“The second and third movements were supervised by Gbolahan (the former minister’s son) after Obanikoro had left with the first flight,” he added.
Meanwhile, Obanikoro decamped from PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2017 to allegedly escape the hammer.
Even though the trial is still ongoing, nothing has been heard of the case ever since he decamped to APC.
Read also:
High profile corruption: How Dangabar died with N24b fraud on his neck, as Lamido yet to know fate
[This Publication includes part of a compendium by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) covering corruption cases as at 22nd of November, 2019.]
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