My Trial is Political Vendetta, Lagos Ex-Speaker, Ikuforiji Tells Court

*Says he may have stepped on toesWale Igbintade

A former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, yesterday, told the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos that the money laundering charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amounted to political vendetta.

The former speaker stated this during his examination-in-chief, in a-no-case submission filed before the court presided over by Justice Muhammad Lima.
Led by his lawyer, Deacon Dele Adesina, SAN, Ikuforiji denied money laundering allegation leveled against him by the EFCC, stating that the initial allegations made against him by the Commission was on fraud and misappropriation of funds, which the Commission later changed to money laundering.

My Lord sir, I am still surprised that EFCC will charge anybody for  money laundering, because the person collected money brought from bank to the treasury of the House of Assembly, which is an arm of government.”It is a pity that I am standing trial today based on a faceless petition, that has no name or address of the writer, who alleged that I committed a fraud or misappropriated the sum of over N7 billion. But, politicians for what we are when you stepped on somebody’s toes, you’re bound to have many enemies.

“It is likely that I have a lot of enemies, and that is why we have this petition by an unknown writer. Who even know if the petition is from an individual and not from the EFCC itself,” he said.
Ikuforiji explained to the court that as a three-term speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, if he had indeed committed such infraction, EFCC would not be the first to charge him, as members of the House would have dealt with him, by first impeaching him before handing him over to law enforcement agency.
Denying the allegation of money laundering, Ikuforiji said as the Head of the legislative arm of government, his role in any financial issue is to give final approval to memo put before him, after the Office of the Clerk and that of the Finance Department have done their worked on it.

“I don’t handle cash, or disbursement of funds, it is the duty of the Office of the Clerk and the Finance Department to do that,” he added.
When asked if the 2nd defendant, Oyebode Atoyebi, who was his personal assistant, did collect cash on his behalf, Ikuforiji said, “Atoyebi collected money or cash for the Office of the Speaker, who at that time had over 100 staff, and definitely not for the Speaker in  person. Atoyebi can collect money for the running of the office of the Speaker and allowances of other Staff.”

On the status of the employment of Oyebode Atoyebi, the former Speaker said Atoyebi being a staff of Lagos State Government was seconded to the office of the Speaker.
In his evidence, a former Deputy Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Ibisola Olawoyin Ogayemi, admitted that he knows the Defendants, and noted that the chief accounting officer of the House, was the Clerk.

On the modalities for financial transactions in the House, the witness said after the office of the Clerk and that of  the Finance Department had done the paper works, they would send it to the Speaker for approval, and after his consent, the documents would be returned to them.

He added that on  the return of the documents, the Office of the Clerk and the Finance Department would raise invoices and cheques, and subsequently, the bank would bring the cash to the finance department for disbursement in the presence of bank officials and staff of finance department to the beneficiaries.
Another witness, Mr. Kayode Motunrayo, a former banker from First Bank of Nigeria, corroborated Ogayemi’s evidence.

After listening to parties, the court adjourned the case till June 1 and 2 for continuation of trial.