· Former minister and PDP henchman sings like a bird in EFCC detention
Musiliu Obanikoro is very brave generally, particularly when his party is in power. But now that his party, PDP, has been booted from power, Obanikoro, former senator and Minister of State for Defence has become an underdog.
He has lost his bluster and tiresome arrogance, like a snail, suddenly exposed to the caterer’s chilli pepper at the crack of its shell. The former PDP big gun has been cut to size courtesy President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.
Since his detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Obanikoro has been waxing lyrically like a snitch. The former minister has been singing like a bird, revealing the names of beneficiaries of the N4.7 billion largesse he got from ex-National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.
It would be recalled that Obanikoro returned to the country to answer to charges of corruption and a N4.7 billion largesse he allegedly received from Dasuki who is currently facing trial over his complicity in the $2.1 billion arms acquisition fraud.
On arrival in the country, Obanikoro reported to the EFCC despite the initial scorn with which he responded to the anti-graft agency’s summon.
The former minister fled to the United States of America (USA) in 2015, on the pretext of doing an academic programme. He boasted that he would never return to answer to the EFCC but when it became clear to him that he would be extradited, Obanikoro scurried back to the country and reported at the EFCC’s office.
He was subsequently detained and contrary to his boasts and pretensions of invincibility, he has started singing like a bird. He has reportedly paid his N100 million bail fee and the former minister has also agreed to return N480m out of the N4.7 billion he received from Dasuki.
He has also produced two sureties and submitted his American and Nigerian passports to the EFCC.
According to a source in the anti-graft agency, “He has returned N100m and has pledged to return N480m. The actual balance is meant to be N685m, but he was able to provide receipts for some transactions. He paid N85m to someone and that person has been traced. He also bought some bulletproof vehicles when he was minister and they will be handed over to the EFCC. The cost of the vehicles will be deducted from the amount that should be returned. Having met the conditions, he should be released any time from now.”
Singing like a canary, Obanikoro claimed that he used part of his own share to run an anti-Boko Haram campaign in Lagos in 2014. However, EFCC sources revealed that he wasn’t telling the whole truth because some of the money was spent on his governorship campaign when he was contesting against Jimi Agbaje during the PDP primary.
Singing like an unrepentant snitch, Obanikoro revealed that he Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, N2.23 billion and $5,377,000 in cash while his associate, Abiodun Agbele, got N1.3 billion. He also admitted that the N1.3 billion was flown to Akure airport in two chartered flights for delivery to Agbele. Obanikoro said he also gave N1.7 billion to a former Osun Deputy Governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, but did not say what the money was meant for.
The money was sourced from the $2.1billion meant for arms purchase at the ONSA. But Fayose has berated Obanikoro’s revelations accusing the EFCC of bringing him from the U.S. under an arrangement to give him a ‘soft landing’ and use him to nail him (Fayose) and others named in the arms scam.
