Anthony Iwuoma
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has demanded that the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, should step aside immediately and submit himself for investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over allegations of fraud.
The allegations included alleged discovery of 64 accounts said to be linked to the speaker’s Bank Verification Number (BVN).
The party claimed that the said bank accounts “allegedly operated with multiple names in various banks are being used to siphon funds belonging to the people of Lagos state,” criticising the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), for keeping silent over the grave allegations.
“Our party is not surprised that the APC and its leaders have remained silent on an allegation, which had already gained national and international prominence; a development that only points to the complicity of a party that brims as the sanctuary of corruption with an unequaled proclivity for concealment,” PDP said in a statement on Sunday by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
“This is especially when viewed with the exposed humongous sleazes in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development; Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA; National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS and Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS; among others, under the APC administration.
“At this point, the expectation of Nigerians, particularly Lagosians, is for the Speaker to immediately step down and allow the matter to be openly and freely investigated.
“In other words, in support of the claimed anti-corruption stance of his party and the government in which he serves, as well as being a representative of the people who is bearing the brunt of APC’s corruption, it behooves on the Speaker to step aside and submit himself to the EFCC for investigation.
“Anything short of that places a huge moral burden on both the Speaker and the Lagos state House of Assembly,” the statement further read.
