I Gave N1.2bn To Obanikoro, Bank Official Tells EFCC

An official of Diamond Bank, Damola Otuyalo, has told
officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
that he personally handed over N1.2bn to a former Minister
of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and his
son, Gbolahan.
The entire exercise was said to have been captured on a
Closed Circuit Television.
According to the EFCC, the N1.2bn was part of the N4.7bn
paid into the company account of Obanikoro’s sons by the
Office of the National Security Adviser during the build-up
to the Ekiti and Osun states governorship election in 2014.
Otuyalo, who is the Head of Cash-in-Transit Services, told
detectives that his duty was to evacuate excess cash from
bank’s branches and move it to locations where money
was needed.
The bank official told investigators that on June 16, 2014,
he received a call from the Head of Operations and
Technology, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, to arrange N1.2bn and pay
six beneficiaries.
He said he was asked to pay the following persons:
Saturaki Bello N200m; Yusuf Bulama N120m; Chimenum
Njoku N250m; Franklin Tolani N150m; Josiah Moses
N280; and Abubakar Sadiq Zanna N200m.
Otuyalo, however, explained that he was unable to pay
them the money and that his director then instructed him
to move the N1.2bn to the private wing of the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Lagos on June 17.
The bank official was quoted to have said, “The
beneficiaries were not available to be paid as I did not see
them and I was later directed by Mr. Premier Oiwoh to
move the money to the airport where I will be given further
instruction.
“We moved the cash to the airport through the Cash-In-
Transit vendor, Bankers Warehouse Limited. I contacted
the vendor who made the bullion van available for
movement. I personally supervised the loading of the
money into the bullion van and escorted them to the
airport.”
Otuyalo said on getting to the airport around 7am, he was
not allowed into the private wing because he and the
security detail did not have a gate pass.
He said a few minutes later, Obanikoro’s son came to the
main gate and asked the security to let the bullion van in.
The bank official further stated, “When Gbolahan got to the
gate, he cleared us and we drove in. My boss, Mr. Premier
Oiwoh, called me on the telephone and confirmed to me
that Obanikoro was the beneficiary of the money.
“I handed my phone over to Gbolahan and he spoke to my
boss. Obanikoro came to meet us at the private wing with
two policemen and some friends. I recognised Obanikoro
very well because he is popular.”
Otuyalo told detectives that due to the large amount of
money involved, it took them several hours to offload the
cash unto the aeroplane.
He explained that it took three aeroplanes to carry all the
money.
Otuyalo added, “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.
“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 after
Obanikoro had left with the first flight.
“The operation took several hours because we got to the
airport around 7am and left around 4pm. The cash was
bagged in cash bags totalling about 65 and everything was
offloaded from the bullion van after which I reported to my
boss, Mr. Oiwoh.”
Detectives told our correspondent that the N1.2bn was
flown to Akure Airport and Obanikoro allegedly handed over
the money to an associate of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele
Fayose, Mr. Abiodun Agbele, who had since been detained
by the EFCC.
He added that Officials of Zenith Bank arrived at the Akure
Airport tarmac in a bullion van to convey all the cash to
the bank’s vault located at 13, Alagbaka Estate, Akure.
He also said that the detective, who presented bank
tellers, added that Agbele gave the bank instructions at
different times to pay in money into Fayose’s Zenith Bank
account even after the elections.
He added, “Agbele directed the bank to pay N137m into
the account of Ayodele Fayose with number 1003126654
and Bank Verification Number 22338867502. The bank
teller dated June 26, 2014, was filled by Agbele with teller
number 0556814.
“Agbele directed the bank to transfer N118, 760, 000 to the
same account and paid in N50m cash into Fayose’s
account.
“On April 7, 2015, several months later, Fayose personally
moved N300m to his fixed deposit account at Zenith Bank
with number 9013074033 with his same BVN. The account
is domiciled at 15 Olusola Abiona Street, Estate, Alapere,
Ketu, Lagos.”
The source added that on the instruction of Fayose, Agbele
deposited N100m to the account of Spotless Investment
Limited, a hotel which is owned by Fayose and his wife,
Olayemi.
Fayose allegedly used part of the money to buy houses in
Abuja and Lagos. The houses had since been seized while
his bank account with a balance of N380m was frozen.
Both Fayose and Obanikoro have denied the allegations
levelled against them.
One of Obanikoro’s media aides, Mr. Jonathan Eze, told one
of our correspondents on Saturday that he was driving and
would call back. He was yet to do so as of press time.
When contacted, Head, Media Relations/Corporate
Communications of Diamond Bank, Mr. Mike Omeife, told
one of our correspondents that he could not confirm the
report.
He said, “I have not been able to confirm from the unit
what he (Otuyalo) said. I need to get the information from
the unit; I need to get clarifications, and will then, get back
to you.
“This is weekend. I need to get authentic information from
the unit before speaking to you.”