THE Lagos state Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has denied that his office received over N2 billion to procure rechargeable fans, lights and fridge.
The ICIR reported that the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) in the state, Funso Doherty, wrote to the state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on some of the controversial projects observed on the state’s procurement portal.
Among the items flagged was “provision of supply items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridge in the office of the deputy governor” which was procured under the office of the deputy governor.” The item was awarded to Judkom Enterprises in July, 2023 at the sum of N2 billion ( N2,017,840,000).
In a memo signed by director, finance and account, Tola Ekemode, on behalf of the permanent secretary in the office of the deputy governor and addressed to the director-general of the procurement agency, Hamzat said the approval for the project was N2 million.
He described Doherty’s allegations as untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded.
Also noted by Doherty on the portal was N30 million awarded to the office of deputy governor for “monthly outreach of indigent citizens by his wife but Amzat claimed his wife got N2.5m each for her monthly outreach programme.
Part of the statement read, “It is important to state that truly, the office did get approval and awarded the provision of supply items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridges) for the sum of N2,017,840 (two million, seventeen thousand, eight hundred and forty naira) as against the N2,017,840,000 (two nillion, seventeen million, eight hundred and forty thousand maira, as reported by Doherty in his purported letter.
“In addition, the report that the office through the wife of the deputy governor spent N30,000,000 monthly for outreach to indigents is inaccurate as the amount stated covered the whole year. It is N2,500,000 per month. Same for the empowerment programme by the wife of the deputy governor which also (is) N2,500,000 per month as against N30,000,000 monthly reported,” read the memo.
He called on the agency to take prompt action in addressing the issue by giving the general public a true account of what was approved.
“We are compelled to write this letter due to the inaccuracies it conveyed; as the story was completely different and not a true reflection of what we have in our records. Also, we would not allow some individual(s) and journalists with mischievous inclination to bring the personality and name of the deputy governor, his wife and the office to disrepute,” he said.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.