Fayose’s Trial: We Moved N1.2b Cash In Three Planes, Says Witness

The trial of the immediate-past Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose for alleged theft and money laundering opened on Monday with a prosecution witness narrating to the court how a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, helped the ex-governor to move N1.2bn cash from Lagos to Ekiti by loading the cash in three aircraft.

Fayose and a firm, Spotless Nigeria Limited, are being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before the Federal High Court in Lagos for an alleged N2.2bn fraud.

The anti-graft agency claimed that Fayose used the money for his governorship election in Ekiti State in 2014, adding that he ought to have reasonably known that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities.

In a bid to prove the allegations, the EFCC opened its case on Monday, calling four witnesses – all bankers.

The 4th prosecution witness, Mr Damola Otuyena, who identified himself as the Head, Cash and Transit Services, Diamond Bank, narrated to the court how he delivered N1.2bn cash in a bullion van to Obanikoro and his son, Gbolahan, on June 16, 2014 at the private wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and how the ex-minister loaded the money into about two or three aircraft for onward movement to Ekiti State.