Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defense, testified on Tuesday in the Federal High Court in Lagos that he was forced to reimburse the Federal Government for between N100 million and N200 million under duress.
This was something Obanikoro said as the 12th prosecution witness in the trial of Mr. Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti State.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is pursuing criminal charges against Fayose and his company, Spotless Investment Limited, for alleged fraud totaling N2.2 billion.
The EFCC said that Fayose took N1.2 billion from Sambo Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser, to help him win the governorship election.
Additionally, it was alleged that the defendants received $5 million from Obanikoro on June 17, 2014, without going through any financial institutions.
However, Fayose denied the claims.
In his previous testimony, Obanikoro had described to the court how he delivered the cash to Fayose in Ekiti State via aircraft.
He told Justice Chukwujeku Aneke that N1.2 billion was deposited into the account of a company called Sylva McNamara and used to fund two batches of covert security operations to stop terrorists from doing anything in Lagos State.
During the resumption of the trial on Tuesday, Obanikoro, who was being cross-examined by the attorney for the second defendant, Mr. Olalekan Ojo (SAN), told the court that he was invited by the EFCC, questioned, and forced to refund N100 million or N200 million under duress during the investigation of the case.
Obanikoro told the court that the EFCC cleared him of any wrongdoing after conducting a number of investigations. He added, “I was made to refund between N100m and N200m to the Federal Government under duress.”
According to what he stated, “I have instructed his lawyers, to write the EFCC for the return of the money he allegedly refunded under duress.”