The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has named former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and a governorship candidate in Abia State, Alex Otti, as key witnesses in the criminal prosecution of Ayodele Fayose.
Fayose, the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, is facing an 11-count charge of alleged conspiracy and money laundering amounting to N6.5 billion.
The commission is also accusing the former governor of receiving $5 million from Obanikoro in June 2014, in Lagos, without going through a financial institution.
Other allegations against Fayose, according to the charge sheet, include using N270 million to acquire a property in Maitama, an upscale district in Abuja, and paying N1.15 billion for a property on Victoria Island, Lagos.
The commission said 22 listed witnesses would appear during Fayose’s trial, including its own investigators, bank officials, and real estate practitioners.
According to the EFCC, Fayose called Obanikoro, who was a federal minister in 2014 when he was seeking re-election, to ask if he had been reached by the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Messrs Obanikoro and Fayose were members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at that time, before the former’s eventual defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year.
“Obanikoro answered in the negative but promised to call the NSA and revert back to him. He (Obanikoro) spoke to the then NSA who informed him that he had a message, which would be transmitted through him to Fayose and further requested for an account in which the said message would be transferred or delivered for onward transfer or delivery to Ayodele Fayose.
“Obanikoro then called Fayose and confirmed to him that a message would be delivered to him any moment from that time as confirmed by the NSA. He sourced for an account, Slyvan Mcnamara Limited, and forwarded same to Dasuki.
“On June 5, the first transaction of N200 million entered the account and, on June 16, 2014, the sum of N2 billion was transferred into the account, making it a total sum of N2.2 billion paid into Mcnamara with Diamond Bank domiciled in Lagos.”
The EFCC said Obanikoro acknowledged receipt of the funds and was instructed by Sambo to pass the money to Fayose.
“Fayose called Obanikoro several times before the money eventually came and, on his last call, he confirmed the transfer of the money into the account and the instruction of NSA. Fayose said N1.2 billion of the money should be made available in cash while the balance should be converted into dollars.
“These instructions were carried out by him (Obanikoro). The sum of about N1 billion was given to various bureau de change operators for conversion into dollars.
The dollars that were available, about $4 million plus, was personally handed, delivered to Fayose, the candidate of PDP at the time, by him in Ado-Ekiti at Spotless Hotel, while the balance of $1 million was later collected by his SAA, the late Justin Erukea, who brought it to him in Ekiti, which he also handed over to Fayose,” it said.
Another witness in the suit is Otti, the All Progressives Grand Alliance gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 election in Abia State.
“He (Otti) was the group managing director of Diamond Bank Plc. He recalled that, sometime in 2014, Obanikoro came to his office in Lagos to explain that he was expecting certain sums of money from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into the account of Sylvan Mcmanara Limited,” the EFCC said.
