INVESTIGATION: Nigeria’s deputy speaker implicated in abandoned billion naira water projects (II)

After about four months of investigations, New Telegraph’s reporter, MOJEED ALABI, exposes alleged corrupt practices in the execution of controversial N1.7 billion mini-water schemes in three communities in Osun State by members of the National Assembly, including the Deputy Speaker, Lasun Yusuff.

Read the first part here:

In the concluding part of this report, the reporter documents the details of the scandal involving Mr Yusuff, who secured contract awards from the same government he serves in.

Whereabouts of Nur & Company Nigeria Limited Unknown

Unlike the Sabbyn Nigeria Limited, it was easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for our reporter to locate the whereabouts of Nur and Company Nigeria Limited.

For a company that handled two out of the three projects at combined sum of N1.1 billion, it has neither website nor social media account.

At the projects’ sites, the company fails to put up any signpost indicating details of the contracts, the contractors, among other necessary information, as required by law.

New Telegraph Reporters Arrested

On Thursday, February 1, 2018, when our correspondent visited Plot 8, Impressive Close, off Dosumu Street, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos, which Nur and Company Limited quoted as its office in its documents with the contract awarding agency, the guards on duty at the house said there was no company with such name within the compound.

While this reporter, accompanied by his colleague, Stanley Ihedigbo, was attempting to gain graphic evidence, the security men accused him of taking photographs of the house without authorisation, and got him arrested by police officers.

The owner of the building, who was later identified as Dupe Dare, and from whose company – Impressive Chemicals – the street’s name was derived, immediately ordered that the reporters be taken to the Alausa Police Station, where they were subjected to embarrassing scrutiny.

The visibly angry Ms Dare had told the police that she suspected the reporters were members of an unnamed syndicate, which she claimed, had fraudulently used her property to secure loan from two banks without her consent.

In her narrative at the station, Ms Dare said sometime in 2015, agents of Skye Bank Plc., security men and court bailiffs, had besieged the property, chasing out all her tenants and employees on the allegation that the house was used to obtain a N660 million loan in 2012 without repayment.

“I was shocked to my marrow because I never banked with Skye Bank, and had never taken any loan. For more than six months, we were in court, with my lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, in charge of the matter,” she said.

Amid sobs, she further narrated her ordeal to both the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station, Bakfur Kyes, and the Divisional Crime Officer, Johnson Domchak.

“I was told the fraudster had taken contracts from government in 2012 and needed money to execute them. So, that year, the bank claimed the individual had approached it, using fake version of my property document to secure the loan. The pressure was so much on my family that my mum could not bear it as she died same year.”

She said after about seven months of court processes, and following presentation of the property’s original documents, the court ruled in her favour, and the premises were reopened to her in 2016.

Another Bank Lays Claim to Property

The property owner, who refused to reveal the identity of the individual or company illegally using her property to secure loan, added that in 2017, another financial institution, again emerged with another court judgement to gain possession of the property.

She said: “And this time it was Heritage Bank Plc. The bank claimed that before it acquired the defunct Enterprise Bank Plc., the suspect had taken a loan of about N70 million from the defunct bank, which he or she failed to service.

“Up till this moment, I cannot fathom why my property should remain the target of such fraudsters, and the way these people came to take photograph of my house, I learnt, was also how those fraudsters kept using the pictures of my property to secure loan. In fact, we are still in court over this.”

Based on this narration, Ms Dare urged the police to charge the reporters to court to unravel the “real reason” for them visiting her property.

However, after many hours of interrogations and cross-examinations, the police granted the reporters bail with the newspaper’s Crime Editor, Juliana Francis, standing as surety, with instruction that they must return to the station on February 5, for further interactions, which they did.

Banks Respond to Enquiries

When contacted, the concerned financial institutions, which confirmed the development, however failed to disclose the details of the transactions, claiming it was ”a confidential matter between the banks and the customers”.

In a text message to our correspondent, the spokesperson for the Heritage Bank, Fela Ibidapo, wrote: “Many thanks for your earlier text. Unfortunately, you would agree with me that the information sought is confidential between the bank and the customer, particularly as per pre-signed contract.

“Thus I ask that you permit me to decline any comment in this regard. Nonetheless, please let me know if I can assist in any other way.”

However, when our correspondent reached out to the Head of Information Unit of Skye Bank Plc, Nduneche Ezurike, he was directed to meet his colleague, Rasheed Bolarinwa, who, many weeks after messages had been exchanged, could not give a definite response.

Nur & Company Nigeria Limited Officer Declines Comment

Sometime in February, the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority made available to New Telegraph the mobile telephone number of a representative of the company, who the newspaper later identified as Ebenezer Famgbebe, an engineer.

When called on the phone, the engineer, upon the introduction of our correspondent by name, had mistaken him for another member of the House of Representatives from Osun State, Mojeed Alabi.

He immediately showed courtesies, but was later astonished to learn that the caller was another person entirely.

He confirmed his relationship with the company but declined to make further comments on all the questions asked including the location of his company’s office.

To all these enquiries, he responded: “Please, I cannot say anything about our projects. Ogun-Osun River Basin is our client and I don’t have any mandate to talk to you. I cannot also tell you our office. Go to Ogun-Osun, you will get whatever you want there. Thank you!”

That was how Mr Famgbebe ended the call.

Corporate Affairs Commission Spills Beans

This rather unusual development compelled New Telegraph to apply to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) through a lawyer, request for the company’s details as part of efforts towards ascertaining its authenticity.

On February 12, the CAC released the result of the search conducted listing the company’s shareholders as Mr Yusuff Sulaimon Lasun of 3, Sarumi Street, Orelope Bus Stop, Egbeda, Lagos; Yusuff Olamide Ayomide, Yusuff Gbemisola Feyisara and Yusuff Omowunmi Rasheeda, all of the same address, as above who New Telegraph later found out are the Deputy Speaker’s wife and children.

It further listed the four individuals as the company’s directors with the addition of Oladimeji Ayodeji Yusuff, with the same address, as the fifth director.

Meanwhile, in another document supplied by the CAC, Yusuff Rafiu Olalekan, who New Telegraph found out to be the Deputy speaker’s immediate younger brother, was listed as a director of the company.

His quoted address was, Investment House, 2nd Floor, 21/25, Broad Street, Lagos State.

However, in a message addressed to the CAC in 2011, the company conveyed the decision of Yusuff Rafiu Olalekan to resign as one of its directors, and the appointment of Olamide Ayomide Yusuff, Gbemisola Feyisara Yusuff, Oladimeji Ayodeji Yusuff and Omowunmi Rasheeda Yusuff, all as directors.

A copy of Rafiu Olalekan Yusuff’s resignation letter, which was attached, was dated April 12, 2011, with the company’s address quoted as Investment House, 2nd Floor, 21/25, Broad Street, Lagos State.

Again, Deputy Speaker Keeps Mum

Through the Special Adviser (Media) to the deputy speaker, Lara Owoeye-Wise, New Telegraph made spirited efforts to get the reaction of the parliamentarian but all efforts yielded no fruit.

On January 10, when our correspondent visited the National Assembly, neither the deputy speaker nor his special adviser was on ground.

Mrs Owoeye-Wise then suggested that a copy of the letter be photographed and sent to her via WhatsApp which the correspondent did as instructed.

After waiting patiently for days without response, our correspondent sent a text message to Mrs Owoeye-Wise on January 22, for a follow-up and she replied via a text message thus; “I’ll give you a response tomorrow, unfailingly. Thank you”.

On January 25, she sent another message, saying; “The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) said he had reached out to your editor. That is what he said when I discussed with him yesterday. Thank you”.

On January 26, Mrs Owoeye-Wise advised our correspondent to ‘recompose’ his message and resend to her via her WhatsApp, promising to forward same to the Deputy Speaker directly and provide the feedback in less than 24 hours.

Our correspondent’s message had read: “Good morning, Aunty Lara and thanks a lot for your efforts. As a follow-up to my last discussion with you concerning the FoI request letter from New Telegraph Newspapers over the mini-water schemes in Ila Orangun, Ipetu-Ijesha and Ife-Odan, I write to let you know that we are yet to get any response like you promised.

“Recall you said you would discuss with the CPS and that he would contact me after you asked me to make my request official. If you recall ma, I sent the letter to you on January 10 but by Thursday January 11, I received a call from someone who later identified himself as Mr. Wole Oladimeji and CPS to the DSP (Deputy Speaker). He told me the DSP knows nothing about the project but I simply advised him to discuss with the DSP first.

”My Editor, Mr. Ayodele Ojo, told me same person called him and that he was the one who directed him to me. Since then, neither my editor nor myself, has received any response, either in written or verbal form, until I reached out to you again and you told me the CPS had contacted my editor.

”Your sms, which claimed my editor has been contacted by the CPS was not only surprising to me but also to my editor.

“However, further investigations have revealed the DSP is linked to one of the companies that handled the projects, especially those of Ife-Odan and Ila-Orangun, that is; Nur and Company Nigeria LTD. All we need is a clarification ma. The other people involved have given their own sides of the story ma. Thank you very much ma as I await your intervention to get an official reaction from the DSP.”

Till date, New Telegraph is yet to receive any response from Mr Yusuff.

Other National Assembly Members Kick

Two months after the inauguration of the projects, and precisely in April 2017, some members of the House of Representatives, who said they were inundated by complaints from the beneficiary communities, had embarked on a tour of the three projects to ascertain the authenticity of the people’s claims.

The House of Representatives Caucus comprising Ayo Omidiran from Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan Federal Constituency; Yinka Ajayi, representing Boripe/Ifelodun/Odo-Otin Federal Constituency; Gafar Amere, representing Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa Federal constituency and Ajibola Famurewa of Atakunmosa East/Atakunmosa West/Ilesha East/Ilesa West Federal constituency, visited the locations.

According to Mr Famurewa, officials of the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority and two representatives of the state Water Corporation were part of the inspection tour.

He told New Telegraph that prior to the inauguration, apparently frustrated by the slow pace of work at the sites, the members of the National Assembly had in 2016 petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to report suspected foul play, even after all the budgeted funds had been released to the contractors.

“But rather than inviting us, we never heard anything from the EFCC till date. The only thing we noticed was that the contractors returned to the sites in a ‘surreptitious’ manner,” Mr Famurewa added.

When New Telegraph approached the EFCC for details of the matter, its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, demanded an acknowledged copy of the petition to locate the exact unit of the anti-graft body handling the matter. But none of the petitioners could provide a copy.

Meanwhile, Senators Babajide Omoworare and Olusola Adeyeye denied complicity in the matter, saying it was unfortunate that the projects were poorly handled.

Mr Adeyeye said: “Personally, I had suggested that we fixed Ojutu bridge in Ilobu but eventually the governor said we should do water. And to do water, none of us could singlehandedly fix the water and so we decided to have three mini-water schemes across the three Senatorial Districts.

“It was Lasun (Deputy Speaker) that was given the assignment to link up with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for the execution. You know very well that I am neither an engineer nor a contractor. So, when they claimed they had finished it, honestly I thought they had finished, it was later on that we heard that the thing was not working and that the people had done a very shoddy job. I am told that some members of the House of Representatives have written a petition to the EFCC to look into it.

“Let me tell you, the crisis on the matter, I should not intervene for now, because if I do, I will make things worse. Let them handle it because in the end, it is the people that would be the beneficiaries. But if in the end they sweep it under the carpet, it can be very dangerous for them. The man, who supervised it at the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority, came into my office and he was crying. But I drove him out. I told him that if he had been given a project and he didn’t do it well or he awarded it to a fraudulent contractor, he should go and fry in his own smoke.”

In a similar vein, Mrs Omidiran also distanced herself from the allegation of fraudulent practices in the execution of the projects, saying she was saddened by the development.

When contacted, two former federal lawmakers, Mudashiru Hussein and Rotimi Makinde, who had failed to win their re-election bid, said since they are no longer in the parliament, they could hardly give any information on the matter.

They directed our correspondents to the incumbent members of the parliament.

Procurement Laws Bar Public Officers From Handling Government Contracts

An officer of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a non-governmental organisation, focused on procurement monitoring, Samuel Offia, explains reasons government officials are banned by law from taking government contracts.

According to Mr Offia, towards promoting transparency, fairness and accountability, and to avoid unholy interference in procurement processes, Sections 58 and 59 of the Public Procurement Act 2007, forbids public officials from ”participating in or awarding contracts”.

Citing specific laws, Mr Offia said: “Part 5 (VI) that is, from Section 25 down to Section 38 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 provides for the steps, conditions/due processes to be followed in award of contracts. So contract offence(s) are clearly itemised in Section 58 of the Act.

“One of the ways we can curb this menace of corruption robbing our nation is to have the system open at all times, and by so doing, citizens will get to know what is being done or was left undone and then ask questions at every stage of the process,” he said.

Constituents Should Recall Indicted Representatives– SERAP Boss

The Executive Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has described as an impeachable offence the use of companies belonging to public officials to execute government contracts.

In an interview with New Telegraph, Mr Mumuni said the rot in the National Assembly could be stopped when the people show concern about how they are governed and realised ”their power to determine the fate of elected officers”.

“If the allegations are found to be true, it is enough for the constituents to initiate recall process and seek for prosecution of the concerned representative(s),” the activist said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second part of an investigative budget tracking report with the support of Macarthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR). Premium Times has the author’s permission to republish.