Nigeria Content Online

Senior officials of
the Oyo State government, including Layiwola Olakojo, who is the
Secretary to the State Government, were yesterday quizzed by operatives
of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences
Commission (ICPC) at the commission’s head office in Abuja. Other
officials interrogated alongside Mr. Olakojo are the Commissioner for
Lands, Housing and Survey, Moshood Oyebamiji; the Commissioner for
Finance, Adebayo Bankole; and the state’s Accountant General, Florence
Okeniyi. The officials were quizzed for over five hours over
allegations that they purchased choice property belonging to the state
government in Ibadan, the state capital at “ridiculously low prices.”

Illegally purchased property

Some of the
property allegedly purchased include the state government quarters in
Iyaganku, and other posh areas of Ibadan. The petition against the
officials, NEXT learnt, was sent to the ICPC, by indigenes of the state
last week. The officials, who were accompanied by the state’s Attorney
General, Abdul-Salam Abdullahi, were later granted administrative bail.
Mr. Abdullahi applied for their bail and also stood as a surety for the
accused persons. The involvement of the state Governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala, and his deputy Taofeek Arapaja, in the said property grab
could not be ascertained. Both men, being immune from prosecution, were
not invited for interrogation by the agency. The officials later left
the ICPC premises at about 3.00pm. The media consultant to the ICPC,
Folu Olamiti, while answering questions on the reason for the state
officials’ presence at the commissions head office stated that “we are
carrying out investigations on a petition we received. We questioned
them over their involvement in allegations of underhand dealings in the
purchase of Oyo State government quarters.”

The interrogation of the officials is coming less than two months
after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) interrogated
Mrs. Okeniyi, three other officials of the state, including the
Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hosea
Agboola, over allegations of an N8.2 billion fraud. In that case, the
state officials were alleged to have deducted N250 million each from
the 33 local government areas in the state for the construction of
155km “special roads project.” When contacted, Dotun Oyelade, the media
assistant to the Governor Akala, declined knowledge of the invitation
and interrogation of the officials by the ICPC. “No, I am not aware,”
he said, and asked this reporter to call back by 6.15pm. However, his
number could not be reached by that time.