Security agents yesterday arrested Hajiya Morufat Obanikoro, former Minister of Defence Musiliu Obanikoro’s wife.
Her arrest followed intelligence sharing
by the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mrs. Obanikoro was picked up over the
ongoing investigation of her husband, who is wanted for questioning over
the N4.745billion slush funds from the Office of the National Security
Adviser (ONSA).
The funds were reportedly traced to
Obanikoro, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Osun State Deputy
Governor Iyiola Omisore and three companies with links to Omisore.
Mrs. Obanikoro, who was transffered by
the DSS to the EFCC, was later released by the anti-graft agency after a
bail. Her international passport was impounded. Sources said her bail
is with the condition of surety support of a landed property owner in
Lagos. She was requested to return on Monday for interrogation.
According to sources, Mrs. Obanikoro allegedly arrived in the country last weekend from the United States.Obanikoro’s wife
It was learnt that she was arrested by
the DSS in Lagos while sorting out some documents relating to the
ongoing investigation of her husband.
A source said: “We got a report that
Mrs. Obanikoro had sneaked into the country from the United States.
After the confirmation of her travel log, an alert was issued to all
security agencies.
“Following intelligence sharing with the
EFCC, the operatives of the DSS arrested her in Lagos with some
documents relating to the probe of the N4.745billion slush funds from
ONSA.
Another source spoke of excitement about
Mrs. Obanikoro’s arrest because “some of the funds under investigation
were wired into her company, which is called MOB.
“She needs to explain to this commission what job she did to deserve such remittance into her account,” the source said.
Responding to a question, the source
added: “Mrs. Obanikoro had sued the EFCC for the enforcement of
fundamental human rights for allegedly harassing her tenants and in-laws
during the course of investigating her husband.”
The N4.745billion cash was sourced from
the SAS Imprest Account of the Office of the National Security Adviser
(ONSA) under ex-NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) prior to the conduct of
Ekiti State governorship poll on June 21, 2014.
Others linked to the sharing of the
slush funds include Fayose’s associate, Abiodun Agbele(alias Abbey);
Mrs. Helen Olayemi Fayose; Gbolahan Obanikoro; Babajide Obanikoro;
Sylvan Mcnamara Limited(a phoney company allegedly ran by the
Obanikoros); Spotless Hotel; and De Privateer Limited, which is owned by
Fayose’s associate Abiodun Agbele.
Some Bureaux de change firms have also
been fingered as having some roles in changing N759, 384, 300 (out of
the N4.745billion) into dollars.
A curious aspect of the landmark
findings by the EFCC was how Obanikoro, as a minister, flew
N1.219billion to Akure for Fayose a few days before the governorship
poll.
According to documents obtained by our
correspondent, EFCC crack detectives discovered that a firm, Sylvan
Mcnamara Limited, allegedly owned by Obanikoro and his sons, was used
to launder the N4.745billion. THE NATION
0 comments:
Post a Comment