Date Published: 06/14/11

Alleged Contract Scam: Oni wants EFCC, ICPC, ICAN, NUJ, Others to Investigate

Former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni has called for an open probe of the allegation of embezzlement of N5.4 billion through award of contracts made against him by the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government of the State, saying; “No amount of propaganda and deliberate falsehood can take goodwill away from us.”

Oni, who was reacting to a publication sponsored in some national dailies by the State government that his (Oni) government paid for contract over and above the level of job done, said it was imperative that both himself, those who worked with him, contractors that handled the projects awarded by his government and the Fayemi-led government submit themselves to an open probe to be coordinated by the Transparency International (TI).

The former governor said apart from TI, bodies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Supreme Council of Islam should be part of the open probe.

He said EFCC and ICPC must be part of the probe so that anyone found culpable would be promptly prosecuted.

“Even though I am not supposed to be bandying words with a group of bandits, who purchased power with the ill-gotten wealth of a man whose origin is not known, no sane mind would keep silent while these indolent people go about tarnishing the names of good people just to justify their failure.

“When they said I stole Ekiti money, I was actually expecting that they were going to publish details of how contractor A or B paid part of the money received from government into my bank account. Or better still, I thought they would publish list of properties bought for me by any of the contractors. But what do we have in the so-called white paper? List of numerous projects we executed (both completed and ongoing), which contradicts their earlier claim that we did nothing while in government.

“Again, what Fayemi said before now was that his contract review panel, which never invited me or any of the people that worked with me said I defrauded Ekiti State to the tune of N5.4 billion. But from what was published in some newspapers today, what we are now being told is that some contractors got money for job not done or over and above the level of job done.

“If contractors were, as they claimed paid over and above the level of work done (which I doubt), are those contractors still working on site? If they are still working on site, then what is their own definition of over payment? Or can’t they reach the contractors, many of whom are still working on site again?

“Therefore, we are challenging Fayemi and his men to be ready to submit themselves to an open probe of all contracts awarded in Ekiti State between May 29, 2007 and today.

“They must not run away as they did when they said I plunged the State into N40 billion loan and I challenged them to an open probe.

“Nigeria needs what we are demanding for so that people who take over government won’t continue to waste public funds on vendetta, and those who are in government too will know that they must be above board while in office,” Oni said.