Olusegun Agagu

Sequel to Monday’s quizzing of the Ondo State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Tayo Alasoadura and three Permanent Secretaries (PSs) in the State Civil Service by both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC)over abuse of office, money laundry and diversion of public funds running into billions of Naira, the Labour Party (LP) on Tuesday raised an alarm over plans by the State government to burn down the office of the Accountant General in order to cover its tracks from the anti-graft bodies.

LP, whose flag bearer in the April 14, 2007 governorship election, Dr Olusegun Mimiko was recently declared as the duly elected governor of the State by the Justice G.N. Nabaruma-led Election Petition Tribunal which nullified the purported victory of the incumbent, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, in a release issued by its Directro of Press, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi in Akure also accused Agagu of looting the State resources through fronts.

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According to LP, vital records in the office of the Accountant General relating to huge financial spending by the Agagu administration mostly ones that relate to phony projects through which taxpayer’s money was siphoned into private pockets are the target of the impending arson.“With the beaming of their searchlights on the activities of Agagu’s tenure since May 29, 2003 by the EFCC and the ICPC, the government has become jittery and at a meeting in the Government House on Saturday last week, it was agreed that vital documents that could implicate officials of the Agagu’s administration be burnt after the close of work while the blame would as usual be attributed to ‘electric malfunction’ in that office complex which is directly opposite the Government House the following day,” LP disclosed.

While insisting that this dastardly act was on the verge of being carried out, LP also accused Agagu of systematic looting of the State resources through fronts. It cited the sale of the multimillion naira modern Printing Machine brought for the State Printing Press by the administration of the Late Adefarati to himself through proxy as scraps. LP equally accused the embattled governor of selling a brand new Toyota Corolla car recently purchased at a cost of N3.9 million to his friend, Mr. Johnson Olawale Adeniyi, who just retired as the Auditor-General for a mere N500.000despite the fact that even the kangaroo committee he raised for the purpose frowned on the sale of the said car for such a ridiculous price.

Says Olabisi, “the whole world can now see why Agagu is desperate to hang unto a mandate which does not belong to him and why, despite wise counsels by notable Nigerians, he went to appeal court to challenge the judgment sacking him as governor even when he knows that it would end in fiasco at the end of the day. He has stolen so much of Ondo State people’s money and because of the fear of his fate in the hands of EFCC and the ICPC, he wants more time to paper up documents in government possession by trying to burn them and cover his tracks.

“While we are not saying he should not go ahead with this arson, he should know that there are ways to get documents even when he thinks that they no longer exists and God will expose all those who have led Ondo State into this sorry pass in the fullness of time,” Olabisi added.  

 

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