The family and associates of the former
Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, are
intensifying efforts to raise N100m to release him from the detention of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
A source said the family had taken a
decision that the former minister would not spend another week in the
detention facility of the commission.
Obanikoro flew into the country on
Monday last week and has since been held by the EFCC, whose operatives
have been interrogating him in connection with N4.7bn traced to Silva
Mcnanamara, a company in which, the commission says he has interests.
Babajide and Gbolahan, two of
Obanikoro’s sons, were said to be directors of the company when N4.7bn
was allegedly paid into the company’s accounts from the office of the
National Security Adviser in 2014.
The money was said to be part of the
amount earmarked to finance the June 21, 2014 Ekiti State governorship
election, which Governor Ayodele Fayose won, and the November 2014
governorship poll in Osun State, which Chief Iyiola Omisore of the
Peoples Democratic Party contested and lost.
Fayose, also of the PDP, defeated the
then incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of the All Progressives Congress,
while Omisore lost to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, of the APC.
A family source on Sunday said members
of the family were worried about the continuing detention of the
minister because of his health and were moving to ensure that he did not
spend beyond Tuesday (tomorrow) in detention.
“We are concerned about his health and
we are not ready to see him still in detention beyond Tuesday this week.
The man’s life is more important than the money they are asking him
questions about,” the source stated.
The family source confirmed that the
commission had given a condition to the former minister to raise N100m
to get an administrative bail.
“If that is the only condition to see
him out of detention for now, we are making efforts to raise that. You
know the situation of the country now, but no sacrifice is too much to
make him a free man again,” the source told our correspondent.
Investigation revealed that the
operatives involved in the case were dissatisfied with the former
minister’s explanation on how N785m was spent.
Obanikoro had said N785m was spent to procure souvenirs to promote a campaign against the Boko Haram in Lagos.
He had told his interrogators that N200m
was spent on surveillance activities while another N200m and the
balance of N385m were spent on logistics and operations under the
supervision of the owner of McNamara, who he identified as Taiwo Kareem.
It was, however, gathered that while the
EFCC did not question the claims of the ex-minister, which were backed
with documentary evidence that he paid N3.88bn to Fayose and Omisore,
they doubted the veracity of the claim that N785m was spent on the
campaign against Boko Haram in Lagos.
The media aide to Obanikoro, Jonathan
Eze, told our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday that there were
expectations that the former minister would be released this week.
Eze called on the commission to release
the former minister unconditionally since he came to the country on his
own volition and had been cooperating with the EFCC since the
commencement of the interrogation eight days ago.
He urged the anti-graft agency to arraign the former minister if that was the decision.
The ex-minister’s spokesman stated that Obanikoro sustained a spinal cord injury and was taking medication.
Eze added, “Everything about
investigation and interrogation, as far as I am concerned, is not done
hastily. In as much as I would want a situation whereby Oga (Obanikoro) would have been released by now, we have no choice than to just play by the rule.
“They have said it themselves that Oga is cooperating, and because they have acknowledged his cooperation, they should speed up whatever they are doing, so that Oga can go back.
Oga is not even strong,
health-wise, so that he can go and take care of himself and considering
the fact that he came on his own volition, without being arrested or
declared wanted, I think he should be attended to fast.
“He is a senior citizen, he can’t do
anything that is untoward and he will always be around. We just hope
that this new week, he would be released unconditionally.”
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