The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has quizzed Captain Ahmed Borodo, the pilot whose plane was
allegedly chartered by a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro, to transport N1.219bn to Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The money was alleged to be part of the
N4.7bn transferred from the account of the Office of the National
Security Adviser to the bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company
allegedly owned by Obanikoro’s two sons- Babajide and Gbolahan.
Borodo, who was grilled last week, was
quoted as telling detectives that he flew Obanikoro on June 17, 2014
from Lagos to Akure on an HS-125 aircraft.
Impeccable sources at the anti-graft agency told The PUNCH that the pilot admitted that about eight big green tarpaulin or military bags were loaded onto the plane by Obanikoro’s men.
He said at a point, he had to complain
to the former minister that the aircraft was too small and thus could
not carry too much weight.
An investigator said, “The pilot told us
that on June 17, 2014, he was instructed by his company around 7am to
prepare the aircraft for an 8.30am flight from Lagos to Akure. He was
informed that the client was Obanikoro. He said he along with his
colleagues including one Capt. Olubiyi Famuyiwa got on the plane.
“He said Obanikoro’s aides arrived at
the tarmac with some bullion vans and started offloading the contents
which were in big green tarpaulin bags. He informed them that the
aircraft could only carry about eight or nine bags due to its small
size.
“The pilot said at that point, Obanikoro
intervened and began pleading with him to allow them load all the bags
on the plane but he refused and then the minister, his ADC and a friend
boarded the plane and the aircraft departed.”
Borodo was said to have flown the
aircraft to Akure where a bullion van from Zenith Bank and some soldiers
welcomed Obanikoro and received the money.
Further investigations revealed that
Fayose’s friend, Abiodun Agbele, who is currently in the EFCC custody,
was among those who received Obanikoro.
The detective added, “The pilot said on
getting to the Akure airport, some soldiers received them and the bags
were offloaded and put into a bullion van. He noted that the plane
returned empty to Lagos.
“He said that the next day, he returned to Akure and then flew Obanikoro to Abuja with his Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Adewale.”
The commission also interrogated the
General Manager of the airline, Mr. Jide West, who told the EFCC that
Obanikoro paid $25,200 for both flights.
No comments:
Post a Comment