The Lagos State House of Assembly
on Thursday threatened to issue a warrant of arrest on the former Governor of
the State, Akinwunmi Ambode and four others who served under the ex-governor as
commissioners.
This decision followed two
preliminary reports presented by two different ad-hoc committees set up by the
House to investigate the 820 buses purchased by Ambode and to appraise the 2019
mid year budget.
The former commissioners involved
include, Kazeem Adeniji (Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice),
Olusegun Banjo (Commissioner for Budget), Akinyemi Ashade (Commissioner for
Finance) and Wale Oluwo (Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources).
Presenting the preliminary report
of a 9-man ad-hoc committee to probe the 820 buses purchased by the former
governor, Chairman of the committee, Fatai Mojeed said that it was discovered
that due process were not followed in the purchase of the busses.
The lawmaker said Ambode used the refund of the Paris Club for the purchase of the busses without the approval of the House. “He did not inform the House before commencing the purchase of the buses.
“Over N48 billion was spent for
the purchase of the busses and N22 Billion were spent on import duties. 520 of
the buses are still at the seaport,” Mojeed said.
Mojeed stated that the Accountant
General of the state told the committee that she depended on the approval
Ambode for the purchase of the busses and that no payment voucher was made
available to the committee.
The lawmaker added that they also
demanded for the budget instrument used for the purchase, but that there was no
budgetary provision for the purchases. “They could not produce any newspaper
where the purchase of the buses were advertised.
“The committee invited 20
stakeholders, 16 of them complied, while four of them refused against the
constitutional provision,” he added.
On his part, Gbolahan Yishawu,
Chairman adhoc on mid-year budget review, alleged that the above mentioned
commissioners were invited by his committee but refused to appear without
giving any excuses for their absence.
Yishawu also claimed that the
former governor gave some directives on spendings without the approval of the
lawmakers.
While reacting to the matter,
some members of the House suggested that since the ex-governor and those
officials who worked with him had been invited by the two committees and
refused to show up, warrant of arrest should be issued on them.
Bisi Yusuf, the member
representing Alimosho Constituency 1, told his colleagues that the House is
empowered by the constitution to issue a warrant of arrest on the concerned
individuals for their refusal to appear before the committees.
While expressing a contrary view,
member representing Badagry Constituency 1, Ibrahim Layode urged his colleagues
to tread with caution.
He advised that the concerned
individuals should be invited through newspaper advertisements, stating that
the ex-offciails are likely to come across the publications.
Majority Leader, Hon. Sanai
Agunbiade said, “I want to observe that if they have been invited and refuse to
show up, we should summon them and if they still refuse, then a warrant of
arrest can be issued. Now they’ve been invited, we should summon them by using
the dailies before going to the extent of issuing arrest warrant.”
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon.
Mudashiru Obasa, noted that the issue was beyond issue of arrest warrant,
“because when this house invite people and they refused to show up, it’s like
setting a bad precedence for others coming behind.
“The clerk should write them
including the ex-governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and if they refuse, we will do
newspaper publications and after that we will issue a warrant of arrest,” Obasa
added.
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Lazy members, not that the buses are not complete or the prize was inflated. But that it uses money from Paris refund. I see why they don't want Ambode as governor in the state.
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