N4.7 billion Scam: EFCC Blocks Obanikoro’s Daughter’s Account

As the investigation into the arms procurement scandal continues, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has frozen the account of an oil company linked to Shalewa Obanikoro, the daughter of former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

According to the Punch,  EFCC investigators claimed that about N1.2bn passed through the account. They stated that Shalewa is a signatory to the account and had instructed Fidelity Bank to transfer N800m from the account to another account within the bank.

“We have frozen an account in which Obanikoro’s daughter is a signatory. She specifically mandated the bank to transfer N800m from the account to another account,” an EFCC source told the Punch.

“We discovered that money was paid into the account at various times. The money came in N50m, N20m, N30m and various sums.

“She said the money was for oil and gas transactions. So, we have frozen the account as investigations continue. We want to know where the funds came from. At least N1.2bn has passed through the account.”

The EFCC was said to have made the discovery of Shalewa’s transactions when it was investigating the N4.7bn allegedly paid into the account of Obanikoro’s two sons – Babajide and Gbolahan.

The money, which was paid into the Diamond Bank of Sylvan McNamara, was allegedly shared among Obanikoro, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose; and the then governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

Last week, EFCC questioned  Shalewa and seized her passport to prevent her from travelling to the US.

“We seized her passport because we were told that she was planning on travelling soon. We had to prevent her from travelling since she is part of the investigation,” a detective said.

Apart from the N4.7bn arms scam rocking the Obanikoro family, MOB Integrated Services Ltd, a company headed by Obanikoro’s second son, Gbolahan, was implicated by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation in 2012 over an alleged petroleum subsidy fraud.

The company was said to have made three transactions valued at N5,393,592,906.62. However, investigations revealed that the company only made one transaction valued at N3,261,263,992.52 verified as legitimate.

The difference of over N2bn was allegedly embezzled as MOB did not make the needed oil supply.

Investigation into the case was suspended indefinitely after Obanikoro was appointed the Minister of State for Defence.

A source at the EFCC said, “Obanikoro’s case is very easy to investigate because unlike other politicians, he used his children to carry out most of his alleged crimes. Out of his four children, we have seen suspicious transactions in the accounts of three of them. There is no way these young guys will have billions in their accounts if they were not fronting for their father.”

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