Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi, on Monday said he had nothing to fear concerning his invitation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission.
The ICPC had summoned the Speaker and principal officers of the House to its Abuja headquarters on Monday over an alleged N168m car scam.
Our correspondent gathered that the Speaker and the other principal officers invited by the ICPC had pleaded with the anti-graft agency to give them till Wednesday to appear in Abuja, citing “logistics issues.”
The anti-graft agency had invited the Speaker, the Clerk, Mr. Muyiwa Adenopo and other officials of the House over an alleged inflation of the contract for the 28 Toyota Avensis cars bought for the 26 members of the Assembly and two principal officers as official vehicles.
But the Speaker, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Akinola Waheed, denied involvement in the car fraud, vowing that he was ready to answer questions relating to the allegation.
Adekunbi said the invitation extended to him and other officers of the House by the ICPC was part of the “routine exercise” of the anti-graft agency.
The Speaker stressed that he was not worried about the invitation because the procurement of the cars was in line with “due process and sincerity of purpose.”
He said, “The invitation of the Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly by the ICPC is part of the routine exercise by the agency and that is not tantamount to conviction.”
“The speaker is not worried as the procurement was in line with due process and done with sincerity of purpose.”
Adekunbi however appealed to his supporters to remain calm as he was sure of coming out of the alleged scam clean and unscathed at the end of it all.
“He is ready to give answer to questions bothering on the petition by a faceless petitioner. We appeal for calm as we remain on top of the situation and remain convinced of our coming out clean at the end of it all,” he said.
