…..As New Ondo Perm Sec justifies transferring of Commission’s money to father’s account.
Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole, the Secretary of Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission ( OSOPADEC) has again debunked allegation of financial misconduct of N463 million level against the commission.
The Code of Conduct Bureau ( CCB) in Akure had invited four of OSOPADEC officials over alleged financial misconduct of N463 million.
Bayo-Ilawole, was recently appointed a Permanent Secretary by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, appeared before the Code of Conduct Bureau on Wednesday in Akure, saying that the fund was not missing as alleged but used for various projects approved by Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
“The allegation has been misappropriation of fund. I think, maybe N463 million. And to me, I just felt the record will speak for itself, and that has been my response.
” I told them nothing of such happened, and the record will speak for itself. Like the one they quoted that it was sent to my father’s account, it was a long-term project.
“The man was a contractor then and was never up to that term, but the record will speak for itself like I said.
” Then the two officers’ names there were captured. One or two things that I know about it was that they supervised other colleagues.
” It could be their allowances, it could be allowance of officers or what they needed to spend on the project. So they should allow me to go through the record and we will separate this and we will know what actually transferred.
“But one of the major things that is obvious is that this fund was not at a go, it was for the period of time.
“We are not talking about fund missing. It’s not missing. The projects were done. All the projects that those things were meant for, oh, they are done, in fact completed. We got necessary procedure before the project,” she said.
Also speaking, one of the invited officials, Engineer Olukorede Adeshina-Oladapo, the Director of Project Planning and Development at OSOPADEC, said that there was an approval from the state governor to carry out the direct labour projects.
Adeshina-Oladapo explained that the money was sent to his personal bank account to carry out 21 school renovations and other projects in the mandate area of Ilaje Local Government Area of the state.
” The transactions were done by direct labor. And during the course of renovating, since it’s direct labour and we are going to control the spending, they were sending the money, some of the money came to my account.
“It is just to disburse for labour, to procure materials. The money didn’t come in bulk, it was coming in bits and pieces. Sometimes N2 million, sometimes N5 million, sometimes N6 million at different times.
According to him, it is a practice in the commission to pay money into personal bank account for direct labour projects.
” It is not something that is new in the system when you want to do direct labour job because the area that we work is a very difficult area.
In her words while speaking to newsmen, the Chief Superintendent of CCB, Mrs R. O. Akingbemila, said that it is a breach of code of conduct to pay money from the commission to personal bank accounts of individuals, hence the invitation.
“It’s a case of fraud, involving the flow of about N463 million into their personal accounts, which is a breach of the code of conduct.
“You don’t send money to a private account from the Commission’s account. That is the purpose of inviting them. And they have explained their own part, but it’s a follow-up something.
“We have told them to bring some documents, including their bank statements and some other documents that will back it up. So we’re expecting them on Monday by 12 ,” she said.
