EFCC interrogates Okupe, Obanikoro’s daughter

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, continues to rein in suspected individuals and former government officials suspected to have corruptly used their positions to enrich themselves.

The commission has quizzed a former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, and the daughter of Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, Shalewa Obanikoro.

Okupe was taken in for allegedly receiving N162 million from the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki and Chanchaga Local Government Area of Bauchi State

It would be recalled that Okupe was first interrogated on June 22 this year by EFC operatives.

He was again summoned in the course of the week to explain he why received the sum of N162 million from the NSA office and the council days to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, primary election in 2014 and the general elections in 2015.

According to reports, Okupe has been reporting to the commission since he was interrogated in June over the fresh allegations.

A source in the EFCC said Okupe was questioned over the N50 million cash he collected from the former NSA, without record or accountability.

“We also got evidence that a company that is owned by Okupe known as Romic Soil Fix International Limited, received N63 million from Chanchaga Local Government Council of Bauchi State and another N13.5m from the same council for reasons that are not stated.

“Another company that is linked to Okupe, Abraham Telecoms Limited, received N35.5 million from the NSA through the CBN”, a source said.

Okupe, who has been released on health has been told to report to the agency at regular intervals.
“We decided not to detain him because he claimed to have a heart condition and presented a medical report to back the claim,” the source said.

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In a similar vein, Operatives of the EFCC, on Friday, interrogated Shalewa, daughter of former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, over a curious N800 million transaction.

The EFCC operatives were said to have stumbled on the transaction while questioning her mother and got curious and invited her for questioning too.

The operatives want to ascertain if it has anything to do the N4. 7bn for which the father is being investigated.

According to an EFCC source, the agency decided to investigate other members of the family after Obanikoro and his two sons were fingered in the alleged N4.7bn allegedly paid by ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki.

The source said: “Obanikoro’s wife came to our office on Friday morning as part of investigations into the N4.7bn paid into Sylvan McNamara, a company owned by her sons. During investigation, we stumbled on the account of an oil company. We then discovered that Obanikoro’s daughter was a signatory to the account of the oil company and that millions of naira was paid into the account at different times.

“We then invited the daughter and she came to meet us at the office. During investigations, we found out that the daughter gave a standing order to the bank that N800m should be moved into another account. We wondered why such a young girl would have access to such funds so we started quizzing her.

“This is a whole new dimension to the case and we will continue to investigate to find out if it is related to the arms probe or not.”

Her passport was seized to prevent her from travelling abroad.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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