SaharaReporters has exclusively learned that two sons of Nigeria’s
former Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu Obanikoro, are currently
on the radar of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over
a massive amount of monies transferred to their accounts from funds
budgeted for the procurement of weapons and other equipment for the
country’s military. Two sources at the anti-graft agency told a
correspondent of SaharaReporters that the EFCC had traced N4.745 billion
to the bank account of Sylvan McNamara Limited, a company in which the
former minister’s two sons, Ibrahim Babajide and Gbolahan Olatunde
Obanikoro, have major interest.
Our sources disclosed that the
funds were paid in several tranches into the company’s account number
0026223714 with Diamond Bank. The sources added that the funds were paid
from an account maintained by the Office of the National Security
Adviser at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
One of the sources
revealed that all the transfers were made between June and December
2014. The period coincided with the preparations for and the conduct of
the Ekiti State governorship election, ultimately won by Ayodele Fayose
of the Peoples Democratic Party. SaharaReporters had exclusively
obtained and released an audiotaped conversation in which Mr. Obanikoro,
Mr. Fayose, former Minister for Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, and a
few other PDP stalwarts instructed a top military officer, Brigadier
General Momoh, on strategies for rigging the election for the PDP
governorship candidate by intimidating supporters of then incumbent
Governor Kayode Fayemi. Mr. Kayode also inaugurated a new campaign mode
he nicknamed “stomach infrastructure,” which involved the doling out of
massive amounts of cash to voters.
One investigator involved in
looking into transfers of funds to Sylvan McNamara’s account hinted
that some of the cash was routed to Mr. Fayose’s campaign.
For
instance, on June 5, 2014, N200 million was transferred into the account
of the firm owned by Mr. Obanikoro’s two sons. On June 16, 2014, few
days before the election of Mr. Fayose, N2 billion was wired into the
account from the CBN account maintained by the Office of the National
Security Adviser. Another massive transfer, this time of the sum of N700
million, landed in the Obanikoro-affiliated account on July 7, 2014. On
July 30, 2014, N1 billion was credited to the firm’s account. Other
transfers included N160 million on August 8, 2014, N225 million on
August 22, 2014, N200 million on November 14, 2014, and N200 million on
December 5, 2014.
Our sources disclosed that both Gbolahan and
Babajide Obanikoro were listed as directors of the company earlier
incorporated in 2011 by Ikenna Ezekwe, Idowu Oshodi and Elizabeth
Adebiyi. They added that Mr. Obanikoro’s two sons were also signatories
to the company’s account until 2014 when one Olalekan Ogunseye was made
sole signatory.
Our EFCC sources disclosed that investigators had
discovered no contracts to back or justify the hefty payments made by
the Office of the National Security Adviser, then headed by retired
Colonel Sambo Dasuki, to Sylvan McNamara Limited.
Mr. Dasuki
and numerous politicians have been indicted for illicit disbursement of
more than $2 billion budgeted for the procurement of weaponry to
empower the Nigerian military in its counter-insurgency operations
against Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. While Mr. Dasuki disbursed
the defense funds to politicians at the orders of former President
Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian Army suffered high casualties as Boko
Haram fighters attacked and sacked several military barracks.
The
former Defense minister, Mr. Obanikoro, is currently resident in the US
where he is reportedly registered as a student of history at Oglethorpe
University in Georgia, USA. One of his two sons linked with the massive
fraud resides in Suwanee, Gwinnett County in the state of Georgia where
they own real estate purchased in August 2014.
Source: http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/29/efcc-closes-ex-nigerian-defense-minister-obanikoro-two-sons-over-n48b-diverted-arms
No comments:
Post a Comment