A
banker has given details how officials at Zenith bank counted the
whopping sum of N1.22 billion Musiliu Obanikoro gave Governor Ayodele
Fayose of Ekiti State.
former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro and Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose
An official of Zenith Bank, Akure Branch in Ondo State, Sunday
Alade has narrated on Monday before a Federal High Court in Abuja how he
and his colleagues counted the sum of N1.22bn cash delivered to the
aides of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, by former Minister of
State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro in 2014.
Alade was testifying in court as the first prosecution witness in
the ongoing trial of an aide to Fayose, Mr. Abiodun Agbele, on money
laundering charges, said the huge cash was in N1000 and N500 bills.
In a report by Punch,
Alade revealed these details while under cross-examination by the
defence counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN). He revealed that his team
evacuated the huge cash, allegedly airlifted to Akure airport twice by
Obanikoro, before they began counting.
According to Alade, the money was counted between 8am and 3pm for
10days. He said after the counting, the total amount was N1,219,490,000.
The witness said, “It took us 10 whole days to count the money
after we brought it from the Akure Airport. It took us from 8am to 3pm
daily to count the money. Some time, the officials counting it would
take time off.”
Agbele is standing trial along with three companies – Sylvan
Mcnamara Ltd., De Privateer and Spotless – on 11 counts of money
laundering involving about N4,685,723,000,000 allegedly taken by former
National Security Adviser from the account of the office of the NSA
domicile in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The prosecution alleged that the accused persons knew the
N4,685,723,000,000 formed part of the proceeds of alleged unlawful
activities by Dasuki.
The prosecution also alleged. that on June 17, 2014, Agbele,
Obanikoro and other suspects (said to be at large), took N1,219,000,000
from the total N4,685,723,000,000, when they “reasonably ought to have known” that the money was part of proceeds of Dasuki’s unlawful activity.”
Alade also in his evidence-in-chief, identified documents,
including account opening packages for the accounts of Fayose, Spotless
Investment and Deprivateer and statements of transactions in the
accounts.
The documents were later admitted by the court in evidence. Alade
further revealed that the directive on how the money was to be disbursed
was given by Agbele who later left with the cash balance of over N230m,
which he (Agbele) allegedly took to Ado Ekiti (Ekiti State Capital).
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