Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has accused operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of another desperate attempt to nail him in the ongoing investigation of arms deal linked to the embattled Office of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) by making use of blanked signed letter headed papers found in his house to forge acknowledgement receipts.
In a statement released on Friday by his spokesperson, Mr. Jonathan Eze and made available to SIGNAL, the former Minister expressed disappointment that the anti graft agency has ignominiously graduated from political persecution into manufacturing evidences against his person in other to drag his name in the mud. According to Obanikoro, this confirms his fears that the commission has devolved into a government appendage for political witch-hunting.
The statement reads in parts: “Recall that when the EFCC illegally raided my houses in Lagos, they went away with various documents which included a blanked signed letter headed papers as testified in the affidavit sworn in the Court.
“It has however come to my notice that the EFCC has allegedly written an acknowledgement on one of the document purportedly as evidence that I collected the equivalent sum of 1 million dollars in cash from a Bureau the Change and signed for it.
“This is another lie from the pit of hell. How can anybody change money from a Bureau De Change and sign for it?
“I still insist that throughout my stint as Minister, I never collected any money from any Bureau De Change and as such, I urge the public to ignore the EFCC who are trying to skew up investigations in their favour.
“The EFCC has obviously betrayed public trust by its latest sinister plan of manufacturing receipts in my name. Instead of genuinely carrying out its mandate, it has been grossly overshadowed by political wiles.
Last month, Punch newspaper had quoted a detective at the EFCC saying that: “The owner of A. A. G. B. S Oil and Gas confirmed to us that the company is a BDC but was only bearing the name of an oil company. He confirmed that he received N168 million from Sylvan McNamara and $1 million was delivered to Obanikoro in cash while he was the Minister of State for Defence based on the exchange rate at the time.
“Obanikoro acknowledged receipt of the cash and we have recovered evidence.”
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