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Speaker of the
Lagos state
House of
Assembly,
Adeyemi Sabitun
Ikuforiji has
been arrested by
Nigeria’s
anti-graft
police, the
EFCC
over allegations
of perjury and
stealing over N7
billion of state
funds.
Ikuforiji who
has been in
hiding for over
a week was said
to have been
smoked out after
it was obvious
to him that the
EFCC agents were
closing in on
him. Operatives
of the
Commission are
said to be
grilling
Ikuforiji at the
moment in their
headquarters
office in Wuse
area of Abuja.
Though no
official of the
EFCC
called on the
matter was ready
to make any
comment, an
anti-corruption
activist whose
petition led to
the arrest of
the speaker told
us that he had
seen Ikuforiji
being taken to
the EFCC office
located in Wuse
2 area of Abuja
at about 10am
local time
today.
It is still not
certain if
Ikuforiji will
be granted bail
today or
detained but our
source said he’s
presently
sweating making
statements on
the allegations
against him in
the Commission’s
interrogation’s
room.
Some of the
allegations made
by the group
against the
speaker who from
available court
records in the
USA is an
ex-convict
include:
i. That Mr.
Ikuforiji has
used his
position as
Speaker of the
Lagos State
House of
Assembly to
collect a
monthly running
cost of N500
million on a
first line
charge. In the
last 14 months,
he has collected
not less than
N7 billion which
he has been
funneling abroad
to buy
properties
through proxies
and his
automobile
company called
Brown Motors,
located at 2
Mobolaji Bank
Anthony Way,
Maryland, Ikeja
Lagos.
ii. That Mr.
Ikuforiji
committed
perjury by
denying his
record of
conviction in
his INEC forms
submitted in
2007 and 2011,
whereas he has
been committed
twice in the
United States in
2001 and 2005.
Records
available showed
that Ikuforiji
was first
convicted in
2001 after his
arrest for
driving under
the influence of
alcohol
on April 22,
2001 in Wake
County, North
Carolina. His
court record
with case number
2001CR040190
shows that his
residence then
was 2116 Saturn
Street, Raleigh,
NC 27603.
The Lagos House
Speaker
progressed in
his record of
crime when in
2005 he was
convicted again
for a
$22,731.00
credit
card
fraud
he had committed
in 2003.
The Hennepin
county district
court records
show that
Ikuforiji as at
the time he
committed the
crime lived at
9112 Yates Bay,
Minneapolis
MN55443. He was
said to have
duped the
Columbia Credit
Service Inc
which reported
him to law
enforcement
agents over the
$22,731.00
fraud. He had
lived with one
Omolara Cole as
his wife and
Abdul as their
son before their
marriage was
dissolved on
August 30,
1999.He was
eventually
convicted on
August 3rd, 2005
in case number
27-CV-05-009568.
Ikuforiji whose
records in the
USA showed that
he was born on
August 15, 1958
however had a
different story
to tell about
his life record
to the
institutions he
claimed he
attended in
Romania. While
in one of his
school files in
Romania, he
claimed to have
been born 0n
August 24, 1954,
yet in another
Romanian school
record, he
claimed he was
born on August
24, 1956. As if
that was not
enough,
Ikuforiji lied
under oath in
his INEC form
CF001 submitted
to the electoral
body while
contesting for
the Epe
constituency 1
seat in the
Lagos House of
Assembly in 2003
that he never
had a criminal
record before.
He equally gave
a different
version of his
date of birth as
August 24, 1958,
bringing to four
the dates of
birth in the
speaker’s
records in USA,
Romania and
Nigeria.
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