N4.7bn Fraud: Ladoja Gave Lawmakers Cars To Evade Impeachment -Witness
A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja yesterday told the Federal High Court in Lagos how the former governor brought 22 cars as gift for members of the State House of Assembly to stop is Impeachment in 2005.
The witness, Adewale Atanda also told the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris that eventually only 14 cars out of the 22 cars brought was distributed to Ladoja’s loyalists in the State’s Assembly while the remaining eight were shared to his family members.
Ladoja was arraigned before the court alongside one of his aides, Waheed Akanbi by the anti-graft agency on an amended eight count charge of money laundering and unlawful conversion of funds belonging to Oyo State to their personal use.
Ladoja and Akanbi however l pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During Thursday proceeds, Atanda, who claimed to be a political associate of Senator Ladoja also informed the court due to his close relationship with the former governor, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Oyo State Housing Corporation in 2005.
The witness while speaking about events during Ladoja’s tenure said, “quite a few things took place during his tenure, but the most memorable thing was his impeachment.
“I don’t know how the impeachment started but it appeared there was a rift between members of the House of Assembly on one hand and some political actors in the state like Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and to some extent, there were some other external influences from Abuja at the material time.
“Many attempts were made to remove Senator Ladoja from office. Petitions were written and at the end of the day, an impeachment process was set in motion.
“There were 32 members of the House of Assembly in the state and to successfully impeach the governor, it would require two-third majority support of the members.
“It later became obvious that the numbers required will be secured by the opposition and in order to prevent this from happening, promises were made to the lawmakers.
“One of such promises is that loyal members of the House of Assembly will be given vehicles.
“In the course of all these, I had discussions with Senator Ladoja and I explained to him that it was important that this promise be kept.
“At this material time, it was rather impossible to buy these vehicles because they were not included in the budget for the year and we started looking for alternative ways to accommodate these requests.
“I then took a loan from Wema Bank in the sum of N80milion which initially was meant to be secured in part by a lien of the funds of Oyo State. But, at the material time, the Commissioner for Finance was unable to deliver on the lien.
“So, I had to use my assets and personal guarantee to secure the loan. The vehicles were bought and collected from the various dealers by the drivers of Oyo State Government and delivered to the government house.
“20 vehicles were delivered and their brand included Nissan Sunny, Toyota Corrola and Honda Accord. 14 of these vehicles were distributed to some members of the House of Assembly while the other vehicles were put into use by other people, notably, members of Senator Ladoja’s family.
“Inspite of all these, by December 2005, Governor Ladoja was impeached from office”, the witness said.
He said after he was impeached, Ladoja and his allies, including the 14 lawmakers loyal to him fled and regrouped in Lagos, where Ladoja continued to take responsibility for the welfare of the lawmakers, who demanded to be paid a monthly income of N1m each after their salaries and allowances had been stopped.
He added that also assembled a team of lawyers, who demanded a fee of N370m to challenge the impeachment up to the Supreme Court.
However, the witness could not conclude his evidence due to time and Justice Idris, adjourned the case till March 27 for continuation of trial.
He further narrated the sequence of events that culminated in Ladoja’s reclaiming his position in December 2006, when his impeachment was finally nullified by the Supreme Court.
Earlier during yesterday’s proceedings, the judge admitted a petition from the office of Secretary to the Oyo State Government (SSG), in which the names of the two accused persons were mentioned.
The document was admitted by the court following the service of copies on the defence lawyers by the EFCC’s lawyer.
A prosecution witness, Abdullahi Lawal, who is an investigative officer with the commission, had also earlier informed the court that Adewale Atanda, had in one of his statements indicated a refund of N38.8 million.
