ALLEGED CORRUPTION: Lagos Assembly Speaker appears before probe panel

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, on Saturday appeared before the house panel of inquiry investigating the corruption allegations levelled against him by an online medium.

Obasa, who appeared before the nine-man Fact-Finding Panel of the House headed by a lawmaker representing Ojo Constituency 1, Mr. Victor Akande, described the allegations as the “handwork of his enemies.”

The online platform had on May 23 claimed that at least 64 bank accounts have been discovered and linked to the speaker’s Bank Verification Number (BVN).

According to the platform, the accounts registered with various names are being used to siphon public funds.

While responding to questions from members of the panel, Obasa said all the allegations are unfounded.

He told the panel the vehicles bought for the members of the House and other expenses undertaken by the Assembly were approved by the House and the Fund Management Committee (FMU).

The speaker said: “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 the due process in the purchase.

“We went through the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) and others and the vehicles were distributed appropriately.

READ ALSO: Group calls for probe of Lagos Assembly Speaker, Obasa, over alleged corruption

“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 pieces of evidence.

“My approval limit as the speaker is N100 million and anything above that would have to be approved by the Fund Management Committee.”

Obasa also dismissed the allegation that N258 million was spent on the printing of invitation cards for the inauguration of the 9th Assembly.

He added: “The whole event cost N61 million and that N1.1 million was spent on printing of the invitation cards.

“It is not possible to spend N258 million to print invitation cards. We are not involved in such a frivolous expenditure.”ALLEGED CORRUPTION: Lagos Assembly Speaker appears before probe panel

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