Ahmed Bashir Borodo, pilot who flew N1.2billion cash for Fayose, Obanikoro confesses

Captain Ahmed Bashir Borodo, the pilot who operated a chartered air plane owned by Gryo Air Ltd that flew Defence Minister Obanikoro with N1.299 billion for Ekiti ‘Man Of The People’, Fayose  has confessed to the EFCC.

In his confession at the EFCC office over the weekend, Captain Borodo said the cash was wrapped with green military bags before it was loaded into the aircraft.
He said the bags were so heavy that it took three people to lift one at a time and place each on the aircraft.
It was learnt that the pilot made these disclosures at the weekend when he was quizzed by EFCC detectives.
The session was part of the ongoing probe of Governor Ayodele Fayose, who allegedly received the N1.299billion slush funds from Obanikoro through his associate, Abiodun Agbele.
About N4.745billion was paid allegedly into Obanikoro’s company, Sylva Mcnamara, by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for the 2014 Ekiti governorship poll.
The slush funds had been traced by the EFCC to the former junior minister, Fayose, three firms and a former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
In his statement on what he knew about the transfer of the cash, Borodo told the EFCC detectives that he only flew the plane in line with the directive of his airline’s management.
He said:
“On the 17th June 2014, I was advised around 0700 hours by my Flight Operations Department that we would be operating a chartered flight to Akure from Lagos with estimated departure time of 0830 hours.
“The client was Musiliu Obanikoro, Minister of State for Defence at that time.
“I arrived at the airport at about 0730 hours to prepare for the flight along with my colleague, Captain Olubiyi Famuyiwa and cabin attendant Uyi Okoro. Minutes later, the minister’s aides came to the aircraft with some bullion vans. They started offloading the contents, which were big green tarpaulin bags. Military bags precisely.
“The ADC to the minister was dressed in Navy uniform. This is all I can state now”.
“When we noticed that only about three people could carry the bags because of the weight, we told them that because of the weight, we could only take about eight to nine bags.
“The minister who had disembarked at that time from his vehicle pleaded with us but we said our aircraft was too small to carry all the bags. We loaded the bags. The minister, his ADC and a friend boarded the aircraft and we departed to Akure, Ondo State.
“When we arrived at Akure Airport, some soldiers came and there was a bullion van as well to carry the baggage. We departed empty to Lagos on the 17/06/14. On the 18th of June 2014, we were sent from Abuja to Akure to pick Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro and take him to Abuja. He boarded without any luggage with his ADC and we proceeded to Abuja to drop him”.
Also, the General Manager of the Airline, Mr. Jide West, has disclosed that about $25, 200 was paid for the two chartered flights from Lagos to Akure and Akure to Abuja.