Two more witnesses testify against Fayose at resumed hearing

Trial of former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, continued on Wednesday with two new witnesses a former head of Zenith Bank branch in Akure, Ondo State, Sunday Alade, and a senior official of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Aliu Mohammed, testifying against him (Fayose).

Fayose is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an alleged fraud and money laundering of N2.2billion.

Fielding questions from the  EFCC lawyer, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Alade, told the Federal High Court on Wednesday that N1.2bn was delivered to the bank on June 2014 by Abiodun Agbele, an ally of former Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.

He narrated to Justice C.J. Aneke, how the N1.2bn was evacuated from two aircraft and taken in two trips in a bullion van to the bank for lodgment as instructed by Agbele.

“When the aircraft arrived, three individuals disembarked from it, two of them walked away while the third person walked to Abiodun Agbele. After a short interaction, we were left to offload the cash from the aircraft,” the former branch manager of Zenith Bank, Akure Ondo state, narrated.

ALSO READ: Dapo Abiodun: Silent restorer of education lost glory in Ogun

He said that a certain Adewale O who introduced himself as the orderly to Senator Obanikoro led them to offload the cash and that when they got to the branch, they counted the cash in bundles and it was about N744m.

“We were told there was a balance and we went back to the airport to pick the second batch from the aircraft into our bullion van. The second tranche was about N494m, making a total of N1.2bn. The money was detail-counted by the Cash and Teller Unit for 10 days before it was credited into three different accounts,” Alade concluded.

Also testifying against Fayose, a senior official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Aliu Mohammed, told the court how N2.2bn was transferred from the operational account of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, to the Diamond Bank’s account of a firm, Sylva Mcmanara, suspected to be linked to the former governor.

Justice Aneke adjourned proceedings till Friday.

On Tuesday, a top official of Zenith Bank, Dr Abiodun Oshode, had also told the court how the bank took a bullion van to the airport to evacuate a cash sum of N1.2bn from an aircraft for lodgment in the bank claiming the operation was at the instance of Abiodun Agbele – an aide to Fayose.

Oshode who said the bank reported the lodgment was also led in evidence by the EFCC prosecuting counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN). He also claimed that Fayose would not fill tellers for bank transactions.