Dasukigate: Court orders forfeiture of Obanikoro’s wife mansion

by Azeez Adeniyi

Alhaja Moroophat Obanikoro, the wife of a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has been ordered by a Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Jabi, Abuja to forfeit her asset pending the conclusion of investigations into her husband.

The court also rejected an application seeking N100m against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for human rights violation.

The EFCC had traced N4.7bn to the Diamond Bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company allegedly owned by Obanikoro’s two sons, out of the $2.1bn arms scam, involving the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Obanikoro had said he gave N3.880bn to Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose and Iyiola Omisore of Osun state.

The EFCC had seized a property located at 44 Mamman Kotangora Crescent, Katampke Extension, Abuja, belonging to Obanikoro’s wife.

However, she has claimed that the house was purchased 7 years ago before the arms scandal.

Obanikoro’s wife demanded “an order setting aside the sealing of the property; an order directing the EFCC to tender an unreserved public apology for the unlawful and unconditional invasion of the aforesaid property and the sum of N200,000,000 as general damages for the unlawful and unconstitutional invasion of the property.”

But the EFCC in an affidavit said Obanikoro’s wife cannot feign ignorance of her husband’s shady deals.

The EFCC argued that investigation had shown that, “the property belongs to Musiliu Obanikoro and he paid for the statutory charges for the property.”

The commission added, “That a lawyer, Tejumola Adeboye, who volunteered a statement to the commission, stated that he managed the said property and remits the rent to MON Integrated Services (a company allegedly owned by Obanikoro, which is also under probe).”

President judge, Justice Y. Halilu said the application was filed to deceive the court.

He said, “I shall refuse the application because it is most unmeritorious and specially packaged to deceive this court. God forbid.”

She has however headed to an Appeal Court to challenge the judgment.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail