Posted on: 11:08 Tue, 05 Jul 2016



After about three months of hide
and seek, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) yesterday arrested a former
Deputy Governor of Osun State,
Otunba Iyiola Omisore.

He was arrested in Abuja for the
N4.745billion allegedly allocated to
him and others by the Office of the
National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Of the slush funds, about
N1.310billion was allegedly traced
to Omisore and three companies.

His suspected accomplices include
Governor Ayodele Fayose and
former Minister of (State) Defence
Musiliu Obanikoro, who is in the
United States.

EFCC operatives climbed a balcony
to enter the room where a “jittery”
Omisore was arrested. Found in his
room, said the source, are $21,000
and about N1million cash.

Sensitive documents relating to
transfer of funds to slush
companies by ONSA, the National
Assembly and some companies
were also recovered from Omisore.
Omisore reportedly told the EFCC
team: “I will not follow you; only
my corpse will follow you.”

He reportedly surrendered when
the siege to his house was daunting.
According to a top source in EFCC,
the arrest of Omisore followed a
successful trail of his movement to
Abuja.

The source said: “We had
intelligence report that Omisore
was at his 1, Kainji Crescent in
Maitama, Abuja. We set out at 6am
to invite him but when we got
there; we were told he was not in
town.

“We went into the compound and
gained access to the house. We
started searching the rooms one by
one. At a point, we discovered that
the master’s bedroom was locked.

We asked them to open it but they
said, they had no key to it. Having
been aware of our presence,
Omisore had firmly locked up
himself to evade arrest.

“We surrounded the place with
armed policemen and entered the
master bedroom through the
balcony. When we met him, we
showed him a court warrant of
arrest and a search warrant fully
endorsed by a competent court.

“We searched his room afterwards
and we discovered documents
linking him to those companies
used for laundering of money from
ONSA , National Assembly and
some firms which they forced to
part with cash to fund political
campaign.

“Some of the documents on landed
properties which he bought with
these slush funds.

“When we finished the search, we
showed him the warrant of arrest
but he retired into a mild drama
that he would not go to the EFCC
office.

“Omisore, who knew the game was
up said: ‘I will not follow you, only
my corpse will follow you.’ The
suspense continued until his
lawyer, a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, asked him to go to EFCC
headquarters.

“After then, we took him to the
office and obtained a statement
from him. During interrogation, he
admitted that he is a director of
some of the companies linked to
him . ONSA, National Assembly and
some firms that paid huge funds
into the accounts of these
companies .”

According to the source, Omisore
told detectives that the companies
paid the funds under investigation
to him but they were the money he
loaned them.

“We have served him bail
conditions, it is left to him to meet
these terms to regain freedom. So
far, we have detained him,” the
source said.

About N1.310billion was traced to
Omisore and three companies out
of the N4,745billion.

According to a report by the EFCC,
the funds were remitted as follows:
Fimex Gilt Limited
(N160m)-8/8/2014in UBA;
Metropolitan Consortium (N350m)
—9/7/14 in First Bank; Sawanara
(N300m)—1/8/14 in First Bank and
Metropolitan Consortium
(N350m)-1/8/14 in First Bank.

A top EFCC source, who spoke in
confidence, said: “Preliminary
findings have shown that
N1.310billion out of the
N4.745billion from ONSA was
remitted to the three firms and the
accounts of these three companies
belong to Omisore.

This is one of the reasons we have
invited the former Deputy
Governor but he is yet to show up.”

The anti-graft agency through a
letter, of April 7, 2016 invited
Omisore for interrogation.

The letter, signed by Abubakar
Madaki on behalf of the Acting
Chairman of EFCC, reads in part:
“The commission is investigating
an alleged case in which your name
featured prominently.

“In view of the above, you are
kindly requested to attend an
interview the undersigned on
Monday, 11th of April 2016 at
No.30, Harper Crescent, Wuse Zone
7 at10am.

“Your cooperation in this regard is
solicited.”

Instead of honouring the invitation,
Omisore wrote a letter through one
of his lawyers, Wole Jimi-Bada and
Co. that the interview should be
rescheduled to Thursday, April 14,
2016.

The counsel said in part: “Your
letter dated 7th April 2016 and
addressed to our client and
delivered to his gateman at our
client’s residence has been passed
on to our chambers.

“We regret to inform you that our
client travelled briefly out of Abuja
but will return by Wednesday
evening. Consequently and
unfortunately, he will not be able
to attend the interview scheduled
for Monday, 11th April 2016 as
requested in your letter under
reference