The banker said he was instructed by one of his superiors to move the money from Fayose’s house to a Zenith bank branch in Ekiti.
As the N2.2 billion fraud trial of the ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose resumed on Thursday, 5 February 2020, a banker, Johnson Abidakun told the court how he was ordered by one of his superiors to move N200 million from Fayose’s house to the bank.
According to the banker, who was led in evidence by Adebisi Adeniyi, a member of the prosecuting team for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told Justice C.J. Aneke that he was the Head of Operation at Ado Ekiti branch of Zenith bank.
Abidakun said he was instructed by the Zonal Head of the Bank, Dr Abiodun Oshode to move the money from the ex – governor’s house to the bank.
He said, “I received a call from my Zonal Head, Dr Abiodun Oshode, that there was an assignment to be carried out; that there was a sum of N200 million to be moved from the residence of the then governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose; that we had to go and move the cash urgently and I immediately called upon the cash officer to arrange for policemen.
The policemen arrived after 30 minutes. We arranged for their payment and called it police money. We also arranged for the cash driver and the cash movers.
“So, they set out for the assignment. After about one hour, they came back with the money and the money was counted and ascertained to be N199.5 million as against N200 million.
While detailed counting of the money was going on, Mr Abiodun Agbele came in with one other man, Mr Taofeek.
“I know Mr Abiodun Agbele to be close to the governor but I don’t know his position; he gave instructions that the money should be credited into the account of Still Earth Nigeria Limited and that the depositor was Mr Taofeek.
“At the point of posting, I discovered that the deposit slip was filled by my subordinate, Oputu Okeimute. I asked him why he filled the deposit slip and he said the depositor could not read or write. After that, the money was credited into the account of Still Earth.”
Abidakun, however, said that he was not part of the team that went to Fayose’s house for the money, adding that he delegated Adewale Aladegbola to lead the team.
He said, “Aladegbola was the only one that knew the destination. I didn’t tell him the amount of money but he led the team.
“When they came back, they didn’t tell me that they met the first defendant (Fayose).”
Justice Aneke adjourned further proceedings till Friday, 6 March 2020.
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