EFCC Details How Assembly Speaker, Ikuforiji, Lavished Lagos Funds On Foreign Trips, Wife, Others

The trial of Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the Speaker of the
Lagos State House of Assembly, continued
Tuesday with the prosecution witness detailing
how the defendants allegedly laundered millions of
Naira.
Adebayo Adeniyi, the EFCC witness, told the court
how the defendants collected N13.5 million for
honorarium, N4.5 million for renovation of the
Speaker's residence, and N1.5 million for the
Speaker's Guest House every month for six
consecutive months.
Mr. Ikuforiji and Oyebode Atoyebi, his aide, are
facing a 54-count amended charge of money
laundering amounting to over N600 million.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, accused the Speaker and his aide of
receiving the money from the Lagos State House
of Assembly without passing through a financial
institution.
The trial was adjourned last January for the
prosecution to provide a summarised version of
the monies collected by Mr. Ikuforiji and his aide.
But on Tuesday, Godwin Obla, counsel to the EFCC,
said that he would rather continue with his previous
method to avoid any grounds for appeal.
It was a painstaking effort that required Mr. Obla to
go through each of the transactions with the
witness. The judge admitted that, but overruled the
defence's plea that the prosecution tabulate the
relevant sections of the transactions.
"We've lost time. We vacated three days for that
exercise to be done," said Ibrahim Buba, the trial
judge.
"What I understand the prosecution to be doing is
trying to go through the records viz a viz each
count of the allegation. They are entitled to do so.
"It is indeed difficult, if not laborious," Mr. Buba
added.
2011 TRANSACTIONS
Mr. Adeniyi continued his testimony by stating how
the Lagos House of Assembly paid millions of naira
to Mr. Ikuforiji; his wife, Mayowa; his orderly; his
personal assistant; as well as the state's Deputy
Speaker.
All the monies were collected by Mr. Atoyebi and
paid for in cash, the witness said.
On July 14, 2011, N5.4 million was paid to Mr.
Ikuforiji for a trip to San Diego, California; his
personal assistant and orderly collected N1.3
million and N1.2 million respectively, according to
Mr. Adeniyi.
On August 1, 2011, N4.4 million was paid to the
Speaker as "cost of allowance"; his personal
assistant and orderly pocketed N1.2 million and
N1.1 million respectively. Two days later, N10
million was paid to the Speaker for Ramadan, the
witness said.
On August, 2011, N6.4 million was paid to Mayowa
Ikuforiji, the Speaker's wife; and N1.3 million to the
wife's orderly, the witness said.
Between January and June 2011, N13.5 million
was paid as honorarium, every month, to the
Speaker, Mr. Adeniyi added.
He said N4 million and N1 million were also paid
monthly, within the stated period, for the renovation
of the Speaker's official residence and guest house
respectively.
Asked why there were columns with Cheque
Numbers in the cash register, Mr. Adeniyi
responded that: "What they do is that a cheque is
raised in most cases in the name of the Permanent
Secretary and cashed from the bank.
"It is this cash that is eventually paid and
registered in this document, the details of
payments."
2010 TRANSACTIONS
Between February and March 2010, N7 million was
paid to Mr. Ikuforiji for the maintenance of the
Speaker's official residence; another N3 million
was paid him for the maintenance of his guest
house, according to the EFCC witness.
He said N1.7 million was paid to the Speaker's wife
on May 6, 2010; the wife's aide received N647,428
six months later.
Other monies paid to the Speaker, according to the
witness, in 2010 include N1.2 million on May 12 for
an emergency meeting in Abuja; N5.2 million on
May 1 for a trip to Spain (for the Speaker and his
aides); N3 million on June 21 for Umrah; N1.7
million on July 14 for the purchase of a Kia Rio;
N4.2 million on August for the purchase of furniture
for the Speaker's office.
Others were N4.1 million for ceremonial outfits for
the Speaker and two Sergeants-at-arms; N15
million for Eid-el-fitri celebration; N2.8 million for a
trip to Italy; N5.5 million for a trip to Chicago; N3.9
million for election monitoring in California; and
N15.2 million for voters' registration exercise for
the Speaker and entourage, among others, the
witness said.
Mr. Adeniyi said that the Permanent Secretary,
who along with the Director of Finance are
signatories to the account, withdrew the money
from the Lagos State House of Assembly's
account.
"Cash payments were withdrawn from the bank in
the name of the Permanent Secretary and from our
investigation, we were interested in seeing how
these cash withdrawals from the Permanent
Secretary in the Lagos House of Assembly were
expended," said Mr. Adeniyi.
"In the course of our investigation, we discovered
that these cash withdrawals were paid to
honourable members and officials of the Lagos
House of Assembly. And these payments were
above the threshold of cash in which the
Permanent Secretary can transact.
"This was what drove our attention to this payment
register which made us demand for it. We
discovered that cash payments running into
millions of naira were paid to the first accused (Mr.
Ikuforiji) mostly through the second accused (Mr.
Atoyebi) which goes foul to the Money Laundering
Act," Mr. Adeniyi added.
Mr. Atoyebi explained that cash payments of such
nature were made to avoid trace.
"Basically, these cash payments are supposed to
be made through a financial institution, paid to the
beneficiaries, not through cash payments. Cash
payments stall the tracing of the monies.
"We discovered that some of it was paid into the
account of the first accused person. Some of it was
used for his credit card and other personal
matters," he added.
During cross examination by Wole Olanipekun,
counsel to Mr. Ikuforiji, Mr. Adeniyi said that he
was not aware what the Speaker used the monies
for.
"Our investigation is not focused on knowing
whether he spent the money on his personal
house.
"From our investigation, we did not go in depth into
who approved the disbursements, we were
particular about the cash disbursement which was
above the threshold of transactions by a
Permanent Secretary.
"Any payment must be made through e-payment,
most especially when it is above the threshold,"
Mr. Adeniyi said.
When shown one of the cash registers by the
defence lawyer, Mr. Adeniyi said that he could not
"remember seeing it."
Mr. Obla objected to that line of questioning,
insisting that the defence must tender the cash
register as an exhibit before it court be used for
cross examination.
The judge, however, said that the defence was at
liberty to use any document that had been brought
before the court.
"You cannot file a document and your witness said
he cannot remember seeing it. If it was filed by the
defence, it is a different ball game altogether," the
judge told Mr. Obla.
"Once you have provided this document, it is for
them (the defence) to use it at their own time
during the trial, not at your own time," the judge
added.
The trial was adjourned till April 28 for continuation
of trial.