A Prosecution witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Bashir Mohammed, yesterday narrated before a Federal High Court, Lagos, how he delivered $140,000 (N50.4 million) cash to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his residence in Abeokuta.
The witness was testifying before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke at the opening of the case filed against Abdullahi Babalele, son-in-law to the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by EFCC.
The anti-graft agency accused Babalele of laundering $140,000 in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
The EFCC witness, who described himself as a close friend to the accused, was led in evidence by the prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo.
Mohammed narrated to the court how he delivered the naira equivalent of $140,000 cash to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Babalele’s instructions.
Obasanjo endorsed Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of the general elections.
But Atiku lost the election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mohammed said he got a phone call from Babalele sometime in February, requesting him to deliver a message to “an elder statesman.”
He said on Babalele’s request, he supplied two bank accounts, which were credited.
The witness said he took the money to Obasanjo’s residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“When I got there, somebody came and took me inside, where I met former President Obasanjo and delivered the message,” Mohammed said.
Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Mohammed affirmed that he wrote a statement at the EFCC office during the investigation.
Ozekhome’s bid to tender the statement as an exhibit was, however, opposed by the prosecutor.
Justice Aneke adjourned till today to rule on the admissibility of the statement.
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