Five bank accounts traced to a former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, and the two sons of a former Minister of State of Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, have been frozen by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC reportedly froze the accounts as part of investigations into the N4.7bn diverted from the imprest account of the Office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of the former NSA, Lt. Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The accounts frozen by the anti-graft agency include Sylvan McNamara (number 0026223714 with Diamond Bank); Sawanara Limited with First Bank; Fimex Gilt Limited with the United Bank for Africa; and Metropolitan Consortium with First Bank.
Sylvan McNamara, a company at which Obanikoro’s two sons- Gbolahan and Babajide – were directors, received N4.7bn from the ONSA in 2014, out of which about N1.3bn was said to have been transferred to Omisore.
A detective at the anti-graft agency explained, “On July 9, 2014, N150m was paid into the account of Sawanara with First Bank. On August 1, 2014, N300m was paid to Sawanara Limited.
“On August 8, 2014, about N160m was paid into the account of Fimex Gilt Limited domiciled with UBA. On the day of the election, August 9, 2014, N350m was paid into the First Bank account of Metropolitan Consortium. All the accounts were linked to Omisore ahead of the August 2014 governorship election in Osun State.”
Omisore, who has since been declared wanted by the anti-graft agency, allegedly received the funds in four tranches from Sylvan McNamara between July and August 2014, a few weeks before the Osun State governorship election which he lost.
A document detailing the transaction showed that the money was paid into three company accounts allegedly belonging to Omisore.
The former deputy governor had, however, denied any wrongdoing and had since sued the EFCC for defamation.
