Last week, as part of its ongoing probe of purchase of
vehicles by the Oyo State House of Assembly, the EFCC had reportedly frozen the
bank account of the Director of Finance and Accounts (DFA) of the Assembly. Specifically,
the EFCC placed a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the account of the DFA for initially
failing to honour an invitation of the commission. The director is one of the
officials of the Assembly that have been interrogated over a petition that the
Speaker of the Assembly had allegedly connived with other officials of
government to supply refurbished cars instead of new ones. An official of the
EFCC said though the finance director later appeared after her account was
frozen, the process of unfreezing the account after a PND order had been issued
was a long one.
Although, the Chairman House Committee on Information Hon.
Kazeem Olayanju had since debunked the story, investigations have shown that
the last may not have been heard about of the saga. Speaking few days back, the
Assembly spokesperson said, “recently EFCC invited some top staff of the House
over a petition on how we bought our official cars as state lawmakers. They
appeared, answered all questions and all necessary documents were presented for accountability sake and that was
all”.
They were interrogated at the commission’s Ibadan zonal office throughout the day over their role in the award and payment for a contract for supply of 33 brand new Toyota Camry cars for the state lawmakers and two other jobs totalling over N1 billion, including the renovation of the Speaker’s official residence and establishment and supply of digital equipment for media office for the Assembly. They were grilled on their role in the disbursement of about N300 million in cash for the executed jobs.
The Deputy Clerk, Mrs. Taiwo Muraina-Akinola and the Director of Admin and Supplies (DAS) Mr. Kayode Kolawole had earlier been arrested and quizzed on the matter. The immediate past clerk, Ms Oyediran, some directors and the paymaster Mr. Adebowale Adeoye, were also taken to the commission to answer questions. Mrs. Oyediran retired from service earlier this year but the jobs were undertaken during her tenure as clerk.
An Abuja-based lawyer and anti-corruption advocate, Tosin Ojaomo, had started it all last year with a petition to the EFCC alleging that the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, in connivance with top civil servants in the House, defrauded the state in a N1,031,380,000 contract to supply 33 brand new vehicles for the state lawmakers.
Around that time, the Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, reacted to the development, saying he was available for interrogation on his role in the contract. He said in a statement yesterday that the Assembly under his leadership has nothing to hide, pointing out that the anti-graft agency was only doing its job.
"I am ready to visit the EFCC if invited. As the Speaker, I will surely answer any question relating to the contract. We followed due process in the purchase of the vehicles in line with the laid down procedures. We have since taken the petition in good faith. The petition is a strength to democracy. It is not strange to us as democrats, who take transparency and accountability as our watchwords. We were transparent and we will continue to be.” According to him, quotations were received from three companies for the supply of the vehicles and the most satisfying among them was awarded the contract.
However, with the latest move by the EFCC, there are fears in quarters close to the speaker that he may eventually be invited by the anti-graft agency. Feelers from the EFCC hinted that some more grey areas have been discovered in the books presented in the course of investigation and the last has definitely not been heard of the case.