Mudashiru Obasa, speaker of the Lagos house of assembly has made a clarification on how the money he was accused of misappropriating and allocating to himself through third party sources as well as other acquaintances was spent.
The speaker who appeared before a nine-man fact-finding panel chaired by Victor Akande, representative of Ojo constituency on Saturday June 6, insisted that the allegation against him are not true as the money he spent was approved by the house.
Obasa who dismissed claims of spending N258 million to print invitation cards for the inauguration of the ninth assembly, stated that the total money spent on the event was N61 million and that N1.1 million was spent on printing the invitation cards.
He said;
“It is not possible to spend N258 million to print invitation cards. We are not involved in such a frivolous expenditure.”
Commenting on how N80 million was spent as estacode for a training in Dubai, the Lagos state speaker said it was spent on wives of 20 lawmakers who attended the event which he declared open.
Obasa said;
“We gave N4 million to each of the participants for air tickets, hotels, feeding and local travel. Air ticket to Dubai alone is about N2 million. Some of these allegations were raised for a crusade to get the speaker out of office.
“The house of assembly is above common standard of excellence and we have to train people, and this comes with a cost. Learning is not cheap and I have never collected N80 million for estacode at a go before.
“The house of assembly is above common standard of excellence and we have to train people, and this comes with a cost. Learning is not cheap and I have never collected N80 million for estacode at a go before.”
On the purchase of exotic cars, Obasa further stated;
“We bought land cruisers for principal officers of the house. The cars we bought for them are always higher than those of other members and we followed due process in the purchase. We went through the public procurement agency (PPA) and others and the vehicles were distributed appropriately.
“It was agreed at the parliamentary meetings on about four occasions and the clerk of the house, Mr Azeez Sanni, is the secretary.
“Also, it is not true that my wife collects N10 million monthly from the house. Anyone who says she does should come with proofs and evidences.
“My approval limit as the speaker is N100 million, and anything above that would have to be approved by the fund management committee.”
Zenith Bank’s chief compliance officer, John Olorundare and the bank’s zonal head of Alausa, Sanni Idowu also appeared before the panel. The bank officials who stated that an individual can only have one BVN and different account names could not be used for one BVN, stated that Obasa has six accounts with Zenith Bank. Two of the accounts are operational (one savings and one current) while the rest are dormant.
