Diamond Bank Official Tells EFCC
How He Moved N1.2bn To
Obanikoro
An official of Diamond Bank, Damola
Otuyalo, has told officials of the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission that he personally
handed over N1.2bn to a former
Minister of State for Defence, Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro, and his son,
Gbolahan.
The entire exercise was said to have
been captured on a Closed Circuit
Television.
According to the EFCC, the N1.2bn
was part of the N4.7bn paid into the
company account of Obanikoro’s sons
by the Office of the National Security
Adviser during the build-up to the
Ekiti and Osun states governorship
election in 2014.
Otuyalo, who is the Head of Cash-in-
Transit Services, told detectives that
his duty was to evacuate excess cash
from bank’s branches and move it to
locations where money was needed.
The bank official was quoted to have
said, “The beneficiaries were not
available to be paid as I did not see
them and I was later directed by Mr.
Premier Oiwoh to move the money to
the airport where I will be given
further instruction.
“We moved the cash to the airport
through the Cash-In-Transit vendor,
Bankers Warehouse Limited. I
contacted the vendor who made the
bullion van available for movement. I
personally supervised the loading of
the money into the bullion van and
escorted them to the airport.”
Otuyalo said on getting to the airport
around 7am, he was not allowed into
the private wing because he and the
security detail did not have a gate
pass.
He said a few minutes later,
Obanikoro’s son came to the main
gate and asked the security to let the
bullion van in.
The bank official further stated,
“When Gbolahan got to the gate, he
cleared us and we drove in. My boss,
Mr. Premier Oiwoh, called me on the
telephone and confirmed to me that
Obanikoro was the beneficiary of the
money.
“I handed my phone over to Gbolahan
and he spoke to my boss. Obanikoro
came to meet us at the private wing
with two policemen and some friends.
I recognised Obanikoro very well
because he is popular.”
Otuyalo told detectives that due to the
large amount of money involved, it
took them several hours to offload the
cash unto the aeroplane.
He explained that it took three
aeroplanes to carry all the money.
Detectives told Punch correspondent
that the N1.2bn was flown to Akure
Airport and Obanikoro allegedly
handed over the money to an
associate of Ekiti State Governor,
Ayodele Fayose, Mr. Abiodun Agbele,
who had since been detained by the
EFCC.
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