The Chairman, Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption, Damilare Bello, on Wednesday, said that the invitation extended to the former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Abdul-Waheed Odusile; and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Emmanuel Ojo, was not an indictment but rather to seek clarifications on the audit report of the ministry.
Bello said that the clarification becomes imperative as some media reports of the Monday sitting of the committee suggested that Odusile and Ojo were summoned to appear before the house next Thursday due to their alleged involvement in fraudulent activities.
Bello said the sitting was not set up to witch-hunt but to put the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government on their toes in the prudent management of government resources.
Bello explained that “on Monday at our last sitting, there was a misinformation that this Honourable House has indicted the ex-Commissioner and the SSA (Media), we have not indicted anyone. We have only used the media to invite them for clarification on the Auditor General reports in line with our constitutional responsibilities.
“It is important to note that this House has no reason to witch-hunt anyone. We are only making sure the people see our Governor working alongside the legislators with the right procedure to achieve all the Government’s lofty policies and programmes.”
Bello urged the public to disregard the rumour.
He called on Heads of MDAs to work together with the Assembly in blocking all leakages and help promote accountability and transparency in the running of government in the state.
The committee had on Monday summoned Odusile, former Permanent Secretary; Abiodun Awere; and the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr Andrew Odukoya, who served in the Ministry between 2021 and 2022 over alleged financial infractions detected during the audit exercise.
The alleged infractions were connected with N92.9m released to the ministry from the Governor’s contingency fund to supplement funds released for the expenditures of the Ministry.
The Committee also said it observed from the available records and bank statements of the Agency that N2,515,590.00 was transferred to the personal accounts of Mr Ojo Emmanuel, Special Adviser on Media for the purchase of working tools for the OGSG New Media Team.
“This was a breach of due process and it is against financial Regulations No. 614. It is advised that funds should be transferred directly to the vendors’ Bank Accounts and not individual personal accounts for accountability and transparency,” the committee said.
