Scandal: Alleged Obasa’s Corrupt Practices Revealed

…Allegedly Allocates N17 Million Monthly For Personal Maintenance Of His Residence, Hotels

…Alleged Imposition Of Payment To A Proxy Company

By Akinwale Kasali

The Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly is in trouble.  Since his Speakership, he has allegedly been riding  like a Colossus, imposing and asserting his authorities.

He is said to have factionalised the Assembly, giving credence to the allegation that he reserves juicy Committee membership to Lawmakers loyal to him.

Till date, despite the tussle in the House over his alleged financial misappropriation, recklessness, abuse of power, high handedness and imposition, he is still swimming in more troubled waters as a result of several allegations still hanging on his neck.

Investigations by this magazine has revealed the alleged corrupt practices of the Lagos State number Three citizen since he assumed office in 2015.

When Obasa got to the saddle as Speaker after the exit of Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji as Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, he immediately registered Extremely and Logistic Cleaning Services Limited with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and made the Company a contractor with the Lagos State Government, doing maintenance services in the Assembly Complex.

Obasa, through this  company, made the State Assembly approve N17 Million Monthly for the maintenance of his Personal Residence, Guest House and Office alone, despite the same Company maintaining the Assembly at a separate Cost entirely.

Investigation further revealed that the Speaker used his office to approve the sum of N47.5 Million per quarter from the state treasury for Social Media.

The money, according to documents shows it was paid to a media company to help publicise the activities of the house, which is also said to be a proxy of the Speaker.

The proxy fronting for Obasa’s Extremely Logistics and Cleaning Services Limited Company, Omoba Adeyinka Oyediran, who is the General Manager, sent a letter to the Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Obasa, in what seems like a scripted movie being played out by  casts, charging the Office of the Speaker N25.5 Million monthly for the maintenance and provision of other essentials at the office of the Speaker, Residence and Guest House.

The letter reads: “Please refer to our discussion on the need for our company to take up the facility management and provision of other essentials at the office of the Hon. Speaker, residence and guest house.

“Following our indepth study of what the jobs entail, please see the attached. I wish to inform you that to be able to offer satisfactory performance, the details of the financial requirements of the various jobs on monthly basis are as follows.

“Consequent on the foregoing, kindly approve that the management of the House should henceforth release the above stated sums to the company on monthly basis to facilitate smooth and timely execution of the jobs,” the letter reads partly”.

In a document available to the magazine, on February 22nd 2018, the Lagos Assembly, through its expenditure account, transferred the sum of N17m to the Wema Bank account of Extremely Logistics and Cleaning Services Limited, which the magazine learnt has been a monthly ritual by the Account Department of the State Assembly of transferring money to the above company’s account.

Confirming this, Sources at the Assembly revealed that the fund was being transferred monthly to Extremely Logistics and Cleaning Services Ltd following directives from Obasa.

These and more allegations, political observers of the Lagos State Assembly say, could have led to the plot by Hon. Abiru and his group to move against the Speaker, with some Rights Groups calling for the Investigation of Obasa by anti-graft agencies, and also calling on him to step aside pending the time the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, finishes its investigation.