Former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji told the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos yesterday that the money laundering charges against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were a political vendetta.
Ikuforiji said this before Justice Muhammad Lima while being examined in a no-case submission filed before the court.
The ex-speaker led by his lawyer Deacon Dele Adesina, SAN, denied the money laundering allegation levelled against him by the EFCC.
He stated that the initial allegations made against him by the Commission were on fraud and misappropriation of funds, which the Commission later changed to money laundering.
He said “My Lord sir, I am still surprised that EFCC will charge anybody for money laundering because the person collected money brought from the bank to the treasury of the House of Assembly, which is an arm of government.
”It is a pity that I am standing trial today based on a faceless petition, that has no name or address of the writer, who alleged that I committed fraud or misappropriated the sum of over N7 billion. But, politicians for what we are when you stepped on somebody’s toes, you’re bound to have many enemies.
“It is likely that I have a lot of enemies, and that is why we have this petition by an unknown writer. Who even knows if the petition is from an individual and not from the EFCC itself,” he said.
He denied the money laundering allegation and said while he was the speaker, his role in any financial issue is to give final approval to memos put before him after the Office of the Clerk and that of the Finance Department worked on it.
“I don’t handle cash or disbursement of funds, it is the duty of the Office of the Clerk and the Finance Department to do that,” he added.
He was asked if the 2nd defendant, Oyebode Atoyebi, who was his personal assistant, did collect cash on his behalf.
Ikuforiji said, “Atoyebi collected money or cash for the Office of the Speaker, who at that time had over 100 staff, and definitely not for the Speaker in person. Atoyebi can collect money for the running of the office of the Speaker and allowances of other Staff.”
On the status of the employment of Oyebode Atoyebi, the former Speaker said Atoyebi being a staff of the Lagos State Government was seconded to the office of the Speaker.
In his evidence, a former Deputy Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Ibisola Olawoyin Ogayemi, admitted that he knows the Defendants, and noted that the chief accounting officer of the House was the Clerk.
Speaking on the modalities for financial transactions in the House, the witness said after the office of the Clerk and that of the Finance Department had done the paper works, they would send it to the Speaker for approval, and after his consent, the documents would be returned to them.
He added that on the return of the documents, the Office of the Clerk and the Finance Department would raise invoices and cheques, and subsequently, the bank would bring the cash to the finance department for disbursement in the presence of bank officials and staff of finance department to the beneficiaries.
Another witness, Mr Kayode Motunrayo, a former banker from First Bank of Nigeria, corroborated Ogayemi’s evidence.
After listening to the parties, the court adjourned the case till June 1 and 2 for the continuation of trial.
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
