Adekunle Williams

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday passed a vote of confidence in the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, after clearing him of all corruption allegations levelled against him by an online medium.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the House unanimously passed the vote of confidence through a voice vote conducted by the Majority Leader, Mr Sanai Agunbiade, who acted as the speaker during the plenary.

NAN reports that this followed the presentation of the report of a nine-member fact-finding ad hoc committee which was headed by Mr Victor Akande (Ojo Constituency 1) during plenary.

NAN reports that the ad hoc committee was set up to investigate all the corruption allegations levelled against the speaker, bothering on operating 64 bank accounts with different names.

The online medium had alleged that the speaker unilaterally approved expenditure for programmes and activities in the house, and spent N258 million to print invitation cards for the inauguration of the 9th assembly.

The online medium alleged that the speaker received N80 million as estacode while his wife was collecting N10 million from the House on a monthly basis.

The online medium also alleged that the House purchased 11 Toyota Hiace buses for the house as well as 80 cars for the lawmakers within a year without following due process.

The speaker on Saturday appeared before state assembly panel of inquiry on the corruption allegations.

Obasa told the panel that the allegations were untrue and that it was the handiwork of his enemies.

Akande, in presenting report of the fact-finding committee during the plenary, said all the allegations made against Obasa were frivolous, adding that the speaker followed due process in all its purchases.

The lawmaker stated that the House was concerned about the damaging allegations against the speaker.

Akande said the committee had recommended that the Clerk of the House, Mr Azeez Sanni, should begin the process of investigating the leakage of some documents of the house to the media and bring the erring staffers to book.

He said: “We also recommend that the activities of the house should be digitalised for proper record keeping and monitoring.

“It was then suggested by the committee that a vote of confidence should be passed on the speaker of the house,” he said.

Akande said that the banks invited during the investigation, including Ecobank, Wema, Polaris and Zenith, denied allegations that Obasa had multiple accounts with them with the same BVN and different names.

The lawmaker stated that the committee found that the speaker had only one account with Ecobank, which he opened in 2007, but that the account was dormant and that the BVN quoted for Ecobank was not correct.

He said: “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 is not correct.

“Out of the 14 accounts attributed to him for Zenith Bank, only six belong to him and only two are active.

“The companies ascribed to him in Zenith Bank does not belong to him. The Deputy Speaker did not attend any trip in Dubai as against the reports of SaharaReporters.

“The ad hoc committee also discovered that the purchase of vehicles for the lawmakers were ratified by the Fund Management Committee (FMC) of the House in both the 8th and 9th assemblies.

“We 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 9th Assembly was approved by the FMC members.”

Akande said the purchase of 36 Toyota Prado and six Toyota Land Cruisers were budgeted for and approved by the PPA, adding that the allegation of spending N64 Million for social media influencers was not true.

He said the speaker made the USA trip and only eight Hiace Buses were purchased for committee work and staff.

Akande said contrary to the claim that N258 million was spent for printing invitation cards for the inauguration for 9th assembly, only N61 million was spent for the event and N1.1 for invitation cards.

According to him, the facility management company in the House does not belong to the speaker while the alleged N10 million paid to the speaker wife is not true.

Mr Setonji David (Badagry II) thereafter moved a motion for the adoption of the recommendation of the committee, which was supported by Mr Temitope Adewale (Ifako Ijaiye II).

NAN reports that the ad hoc committee had conducted the investigation into the allegations against the speaker on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Members of the committee are Mr Yinka Ogundimu (Agege II), Mr Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa II), Mr Lukmon Olumoh (Ajeromi Ifelodun I) and Mr Ajani Owolabi (Lagos Mainland I).

Others are Mrs Mojisola Alli-Macaulay (Amuwo Odofin I), Mr Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu I) and Mr Akeem Shokunle (Oshodi/Isolo I).