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Lawyer Raises Allegations of Fraud in Cars Purchased for Oyo House of Assembly Members



Tosin Ojaomo, an Ex-prosecutor with the Special Presidential Panel on Recovery of Public Property has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over scam allegation concerning the purchase of about N1.03bn worth of official cars for Oyo State House of Assembly Members.

The petition dated December 7, 2020, the contract, which was implemented by a firm (name withheld), was for the purchase of 33 Toyota Camry cars for the House members and the Clerk at N759m as well as two Toyota Hilux pick-up vans for the Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, at N40m, two Toyota Prado Land Cruiser SUVs valued at N106m were also purchased for the Deputy Speaker, Abiodun Fadeyi and as Ogundoyin’s back-up vehicles, the petition read.

Ojaomo, in his petition, claimed that the contract was for the procurement of new 2019 vehicle models but reported that refurbished models with cleaned-up mileage were what delivered to them instead.

The lawyer claimed that the contract was fraudulent and it was concocted to favour the contractor instead of Elizade Motors and Mandilas Motors which also tendered quotations.

He further added that the alleged fraud was uncovered when some of the 33 cars delivered by the contractor started having mechanical and electrical problems a few days after supply to the house members.

Ojaomo, therefore, petitioned the EFCC to recover the full contract sum from the firm.

The petition read in part, “My petition stemmed from recent findings that the sum of N1,031,380,000 earmarked by the Oyo State Assembly for the purchase of vehicles for honourable members of the house was diverted by the Speaker and Deputy Speaker with the connivance of a company contracted to handle the purchase and supply of cars to the House members.

“The contract was awarded for the supply of brand new Toyota Camry 2019 models, but instead of supplying new cars, he went ahead to supply refurbished vehicles and cleaned up the mileage to make them look like new ones.”

Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, was asked about the probe, he said, “Petitions go through a vetting process and it is premature to comment further at this stage.”

The Speaker declined various means of communication to him. Ignoring all calls and WhatsApp texts that were sent to him.

The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Kazeem Olayanju, described the allegations as false.

“I was not able to reach the Speaker to hear from him, but from my little findings, they are false allegations,” he said on Friday.

The Deputy Speaker said he was oblivious to the alleged scam, saying he was not involved in the contract award.

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