Three months’ cat and mouse game ended yesterday as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) finally arrested a former deputy governor of Osun State, Otunba Iyiola Omisore in Abuja.
Omisore was picked in Abuja for the N4.745billion allegedly allocated to him and others by the Office of the National Security Adviser(ONSA), sources tell the Nation.
About N1.310billion is said to be traced to Omisore and three companies.
His suspected accomplices include Governor Ayodele Fayose and ex-Minister of (State) Defence Musiliu Obanikoro, who is in the United States.
Omisore’s arrest was however not without drama. He reportedly locked himself in the master’s bedroom in his bid to dodge arrest by EFCC operatives.
EFCC operatives however scaled a balcony to enter the room where a Omisore was already shivering. Sources say that $21,000 and about N1million cash was were found in his room.
Relevant documents of transfer of funds by ONSA, the National Assembly and some companies were also recovered from Omisore.
Omisore is said to have told the EFCC team: “I will not follow you; only my corpse will follow you.” He eventually surrendered when he was the hopelessness of his attamept.
An EFCC source told the newspaper that the arrest of Omisore was the result of his movement to Abuja being trailed.
“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 .”
It is alleged that Omisore told detectives that the companies paid the funds under probe 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.
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