The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Olakunle Oluomo has said he is innocent of the allegation of fraud charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Oluomo and two others were last Tuesday ordered remanded in the custody of the EFCC after they were arraigned by the anti-graft commission on allegation of N2.475 billion money laundering.
Justice Daniel Osiagor ordered that they should be remanded for one week in the EFCC’s custody, adding that if they failed to meet up with the bail condition, they would be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service.
He and the other accused persons have since regained freedom following the perfection of their bail condition.
However, in a statement issued and signed today, the Speaker described the petition leading to his arrest and prosecution as “hyperbolic”. He pointedly accused a former Deputy Speaker of the House Dare Kadiri of being behind his trivial.
“I maintain my innocence in the recent Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charges against me and I will want the court to decide because the hyperbolic nature of the petitions written by the impeached former Deputy Speaker, Dare Kadiri was also reflected in the charges.
“By law, I am not the Accounting Officer of the House, for emphasis, the House under my leadership operates only one bank account since 2019, through which running costs and allowances are paid directly into the bank accounts of individual Honourable members and staff of the House including the petitioner.
“Also, charges 10 and 11 are for the Eighth legislature before I became the Speaker.
“I also like to say that the refusal to honour the initial invitation of EFCC was because the method adopted by EFCC is against section 36 of the Constitution and we challenged it in court, this is in the public domain as it was widely reported but the EFCC refused to wait for the pronouncement in that case before taking further steps, despite having joined issues with us in court.
“I have always been disciplined and upright in my position, conduct and dealings with people, I shall continue to remain myself with truth and honour as my goal. I thank everyone that showed love and concern in the last few days. Thanks and God bless you all”, the Speaker said.
Oluomo was arraigned alongside three others who are Oladayo Samuel, Adeyemo Adedeji Taiwo and Adeyanju Amoke (now at large) on 11 counts of conspiracy, forgery, stealing and money laundering preferred against them by the EFCC.
EFCC prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo told the court that the defendants committed the alleged offences between 2019 and 2022.
He said the incident took place in Ogun State.
Oyedepo told the court that they allegedly stole the sum of N2.475bn from the treasury of the Ogun State House of Assembly.
When the charge was read to the defendants, they pleaded not guilty.