Based on a deal reached with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission earlier, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has returned an additional sum of N30m to the corruption-fighting agency, with a promise to pay a balance of N417m. As part of the deal, the one time Minister of Defence promised to return a certain sum every quarter.
Obanikoro who spent about 15 months in the United States, before returning to Nigeria was accused of receiving N4.7bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Although the EFCC has asked Obanikoro to refund N584m, the Senator confessed to keeping N785m out of the N4.7bn he received, claiming to have given N1.219bn to the then governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and current governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, and N1.3bn to the PDP governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
He also confessed to giving Fayose a separate $5.377m at Spotless Hotel in Ekiti State in the presence of party stalwarts, including the then PDP state secretary, Mr. Tope Aluko.
So far, Obanikoro has returned about N167m.
A key witness to the case,Mr. Alade Sunday, a manager at Zenith Bank, narrated how Obanikoro delivered about N1.219bn to Fayose’s aide, Abiodun Agbele, for onward transmission to Fayose, claiming that it took cashiers about 10 days to count the money.
