The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is gearing to invite the former Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu Obanikoro and the former Peoples Democratic Party Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu for questioning.
The pair are expected to answer questions in relation to the car gifts they allegedly received from oil baron, Jide Omokore.
Omokore, a close ally of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been in the detention of the anti-graft agency for over a week.
His firm, Atlantic Energy Limited, was alleged to have lifted crude oil, but only remitted a fraction of its worth to the government, during the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011.
Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, has been in the detention of the EFCC since Tuesday for allegedly receiving 23 exotic cars (worth N302m) from Omokore.
The funds used to purchase the vehicles distributed by Omokore to several party leaders, were reported to have been sourced from crude oil receipts, which the oil baron failed to remit.
A source was quoted by Punch Newspapers to have said: “Mu’azu’s name has also been mentioned in the car issue but he has been out of the country for some months and we cannot get him now.”
“Some of the vehicles were given to Secondus but other PDP leaders received the vehicles, which were mostly Sport Utility Vehicles. We were told that Obanikoro received five of such vehicles. Obanikoro and members of his family have been out of the country since last year but we hear he goes to Ghana and returns to the US. The two of them, Muazu and Obanikoro, are needed to make clarifications on the cars.”
Meanwhile, Mu’azu has also been invited by the commission to explain the N10bn given to PDP delegates to the National Convention that picked Jonathan as the party candidate in 2014.
The funds were reportedly received through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Leave a reply