Lagos Assembly Speaker, Obasa, in fresh contract scandal

The Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, may be facing fresh scandal of using companies fronting for him to secure contracts from the State Assembly and the state government.

An online publication, Saharareporters on Saturday published a list of companies Speaker Obasa had been using to allegedly award contracts to himself and launder public funds.

The report revealed that Obasa primarily used De Kingrun Multipurpose Nigeria Ltd for securing and implementing contracts from the Assembly and ministries.

It added that the Speaker also owns several other companies used for securing contracts from the Lagos Assembly.

The companies were identified to include Adesav International Ventures, Quick Solution International Ventures, White Honey Enterprises, Cream on Ice Services, A.B DELCO Nigeria Company, Fabric Splash Ventures, Skye-Macosh Company, Swifthill International Ventures, Silver Section Global, Davedab Global Ventures and Jose Macosh Company.

It was disclosed that the documents sighted by SaharaReporters indicated Obasa is a direct beneficiary at De Kingrun Multipurpose Nigeria Ltd.

The Speaker was said to have disguised his ownership of any of the companies by not using his name to register, but  used his father, wife and children as shareholders in the company; so he cannot be linked.

It was highlighted that the Public Procurement Act 2007 and Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 bars political office holders from issuing contracts to themselves or companies they directly benefit from.

This law was said to be constantly violated with impunity in Nigeria.

It was further revealed that in the Company and Allied Matters Decree 1990 of De Kingrun Multipurpose Nigeria Ltd. with RC: A813/08/308 sighted by SaharaReporters, the names listed on the company are Obasa’s father, one of his wives and three of his children.

It was pointed out that at the time of registration and listing of names, Obasa’s children were underage, yet they were registered as businessmen by the Speaker.

SaharaReporters had insisted that Obasa is the sole signatory to all the bank accounts of the company.

It cited that a Zenith Bank account of the company domiciled at Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has in it hundreds of millions of naira illegally acquired by the Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly.

There were indications that the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may be beaming its searchlight on the Lagos Assembly Speaker. It was learned that preliminary inquiries may begin soon to gather details of the transactions, particularly, funds allegedly moved to foreign banks.

Meanwhile, National Daily is following the development and will bring updates in subsequent reports.