Tobias Sylvester
Lagos State House of Assembly has dismissed all allegations of corruption against the Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, and passed a vote of confidence on him.
KanyiDaily recalls that the online news medium, SaharaReporters, had reported that Obasa operated 64 bank accounts with the same Bank Verification Number.
The Speaker also allegedly approved N80m as estacodes for some lawmakers to travel to Dubai, while his wife collected N10m monthly from the House.
He was also alleged to have purchased 11 Hiace buses for the House as well as 80 cars for the lawmakers within one year without due process among other allegations.
Other Allegations By Sahare Reporters Are:
- Lagos Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa Accused Of Collecting N45m For Christmas Party That Was Never Held
- How Lagos Speaker Fraudulently Collected N53million For Travel With His Mistress To United States
- Lagos Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa Fraudulently Approves N258million For Printing Of Invitation Cards
An investigative committee headed by Victor Akande (Ojo constituency 1) was mandated to investigate such allegations against the speaker.
After its investigation, the committee came to a conclusion that all the allegations against the speaker were frivolous, unfounded and could not be substantiated by the accusers who refused to honour the invitation by the committee, where they would have proved their allegations beyond every doubt.
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Apart from recommending that a vote of confidence should be passed on the speaker, the committee also recommended that the clerk of the house should begin the process of investigating how some House documents got leaked to the press and bring the errant staff to book.
The committee also recommended that the activities of the House should be digitalised for proper record keeping and monitoring.
On the corruption allegations, the committee said it found that the speaker has only one account with Ecobank, which he opened in 2007, even as it was also discovered that the account is dormant and that the BVN quoted for Ecobank was not correct.
“The Speaker did not have multiple accounts with Ecobank, the BVN ascribed to Wema Bank does not belong to him and the companies attributed to him in Wema Bank are not correct.
“Out of the 14 accounts attributed to him in Zenith Bank, only six belong to him. And out of the six that belong to him, only two are active.
“The companies ascribed to him in Zenith Bank do not belong to him. The Deputy Speaker did not attend any trip in Dubai as against the reports by SaharaReporters,” he said.
The committee also said it found out that the purchase of vehicles for the lawmakers were ratified by the Fund Management Committee (FMC) of the House in both the Eighth and Ninth Assemblies.
It was also revealed that the purchase of Toyota Prado and Land Cruiser cars for members were approved by the FMC and the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency (PPA).
“The purchase of operational vehicles for members of the Ninth Assembly was approved by the FMC members. The purchase of 36 Toyota Prado and six Land Cruisers were budgeted for and approved by the PPA. The allegation that N64 million was spent on social media influencers was also not true,” he said.
The committee recommended that the Clerk should investigate the leakage of documents of the House to the press and punish erring staffers.
A member representing Badagry 2, Setonji David, reportedly moved a motion for the adoption of the recommendations of the committee, which was supported by lawmaker representing Ifako Ijaye 2, Temitope Adewale.
The members agreed with the recommendations based on a voice vote conducted by the Majority Leader of the House, Sanni Agunbiade, who acted as the Speaker during the .sitting.
KanyiDaily had reported that Obasa launched N1billion suit against Sahara Reporters for maligning him in a series of false reports, and corruptio allegations.
