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HOW EFCC FOUND ₦4.75 BILLION LINKED TO DASUKI BLOOD MONEY IN OBANIKORO SON’S ACCOUNT

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The former Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro who is being investigated by the Task Force investigating the alleged diversion of $2.1bn meant for arms procurement under the immediate past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has landed in trouble.

 

It was gathered that the team of EFCC investigators had traced the sum of ₦4.75bn to the account of Silva McNamara Limited with Diamond Bank with links to the family of the former minister.

 

A top operative of the commission, who confided in our correspondent, said that the company had two sons of the former minister on its board.

 

The names of the relatives on the company’s board are Gbolahan Obanikoro and Babajide Obanikoro.

 

It was stated that the duo were on the board of the company till 2014 when one Olalekan Ogunseye became the sole signatory to the company’s account.

 

Investigations revealed that the funds were paid into the McNamara account from the Central Bank of Nigeria Imprest Account of the National Security adviser between June 6, 2014 and December, 12, 2015.

 

The breakdown of the lodgements of funds into the account during the six months period revealed that ₦200m was paid into the account on June 6, 2014; ₦2bn on June 16, 2014; ₦60m on July 6, 2014 and ₦7, 000m on July 7, 2014.

 

Other lodgements into the account within the period include the payment of N1bn on July 30, 2014; N160m on August 8, 2014; N225m on August 22, 2014; N200m on November, 14, 2014 and N200m on December, 5, 2014.

 

The source said that the commission was probing the payment of N4.75bn to McNamara because the funds were released without any contractual evidence.

 

It was however stated that Obanikoro’s name was not found in the transactions as he was not on the board of the company.

 

It was stated that efforts are being made to unravel the mystery behind the payment of the large amount of money to the company which has two of his sons as members of the board of directors.

 

Our correspondent could not get the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, to comment on the story as the calls to his mobile telephone line did not connect.

 

In his response, however, a media aide to Obanikoro, Mr. Jonathan Eze, denied allegations that the former minister was involved in any fraud.

 

He said all the allegations were mere speculations and urged members of the public to treat them as such.

He said, “As far as Senator Obanikoro is concerned, these are mere allegations that have not been proven and can never be proved. The former minister insists that his children were never directors at the company and were never signatories.

 

“These allegations are the handiwork of Sahara Reporters and I have taken them to court. Very soon, the truth will be made known but I urge members of the public not to believe these allegations. Senator Obanikoro’s children are victims of cheap politics but the truth will be revealed.”

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House Of Representatives Issues Warrant Of Arrest On Central Bank Governor, Cardoso, Accountant-General, 17 Others

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The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions has asked for a warrant of arrest to be issued on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, and 17 others over refusal to appear before it to answer questions on their operations.

It was gathered that the issuance of the arrest warrant was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved by Fred Agbedi, representing Ekeremo/Sagbama Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the committee’s hearing on Tuesday.

Agbedi, while moving the motion, said that the arrest warrant had become imperative following the attitude of the invitees, adding that the parliament worked with time and the CEOs had been invited four times but failed to respond to the invitations.

Agbedi said that the CBN Governor, the AGF and the rest of the invitees should be brought to appear before the committee by the Inspector General of Police through a warrant of arrest after due diligence by the House Speaker, Rep Tajudeen Abbas.

The Chairman of the Committee, Micheal Irom (APC-Cross River), in his ruling said that the Inspector-General of Police should ensure the invitees were brought before the committee on December 14.
It was gathered that the petitioner, Fidelis Uzowanem, had earlier said that the petition was anchored on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) 2021 report.

Irom said, “We took up the challenge to examine the report and discovered that what NEITI put together as a report is only consolidation of fraud that has been going on in the oil and gas industry.

“It dates back to 2016 because we have been following and we put up a petition to this committee to examine what has happened.

“The 2024 budget of 27.5 trillion that has been proposed can be confidently funded from the recoverable amount that we identified in the NEITI report.

“It is basically a concealment of illegal transactions that took place in NNPCL; they have been in a sink with some oil companies where some companies that did not produce crude were paid cash core, an amount paid for crude oil production.”

 

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FCTA uncovers illegal oil refining warehouse in Abuja

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In continuation of the city cleaning exercise, Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) with operatives of security personnel have uncovered an illegal oil refining warehouse in Mabushi, opposite Mobile filling station on Ahmadu Bello way in Abuja.

 

The Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, Mukhtar Galadima after the operation on Thursday, said the illegal refining site was discovered during the continuation of the city cleaning exercise.

 

According to him, about three to four plot of lands designated for commercial purposes have been converted to an area where oil and diesel are being adulterated and circulated to other parts of the city.

 

Galadima explained that the city sanitation task force will look into the provision of the law and make necessary recommendations to the FCT Administration for further actions on the plots used for the activity.

 

He said there was no arrest but the items used in carrying out the illegal refining have been impounded.

 

Galadima said, “During the continuation of our city sanitation exercise in Mabushi opposite Mobile filling station on Ahmadu way, we discovered an illegal refining site where oil and diesel are being adulterated, we have done the needful by moving the items to Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

 

“From what we have seen so far, about three or four pilot of lands designated for commercial purposes have been converted to unapproved activities, which we believe the owners are fully aware, there will be consequences.

 

“We are going to look at the provision of the law and make necessary recommendations to the FCT Administration”

 

He said the administration will continue to go tough on activities being carried out without government approval,  especially revocation of the titles.

 

Collaborating, Head, operations FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Service (DRTS), Deborah Osho said the city management team during the exercise also discovered that most of the areas in the Nation’s capital have been converted to illegal car mart and motor parks.

 

She disclosed that fifteen vehicles have so far been impounded since the operation commenced about two days.

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Central Bank To Freeze Accounts Without BVN, NIN From April 2024

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Friday that it will freeze accounts without a Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identification Number (NIN) from April 2024.

This is according to a Friday circular by the apex bank which said a BVN or NIN verification will be “conducted shortly”.

It also said all BVN or NIN attached to accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024, according to the circular by the CBN Director of Payments System Management Department Chibuzo Efobi, and the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department Haruna Mustapha.

More details later….

 

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