A group, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has called for the probe of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, over alleged N1.1 billion contract scandal.
CSNAC, a coalition over 150 anti-corruption organisations asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the alleged scam.
Lasun was alleged to have used Nur & Company Nigeria Limited, a company he owns, to secure contracts amounting to about N1.1 billion from the federal government through the ministry of water resources.
CSNAC, in a petition signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, wants appropriate sanctions made against the lawmaker if the allegation is found to be true.
“The contracts, which are part of the National Assembly’s Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), otherwise known as “constituency projects,” were parts of the joint projects attracted to the state by 12 members of the national assembly from Osun State, who had been elected to the two chambers between 2011 and 2015, on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” the petition addressed to Ibrahim Magu, EFCC chairman, read.
“Hon. Lasun, who represents Irepodun/Orolu/ Olorunda/Osogbo Federal Constituency, and who was then the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, had allegedly used his position to bid and win the contract without the knowledge of his colleagues.
“According to one of the parliamentarians and now the Chief Whip of the Senate, Prof. Sola Adeyeye, the decision to execute common projects by the representatives at the time was based on the quest to make meaningful impacts on the infrastructural deficit in the state and complement the efforts of the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.”
The petition said it was Lasun who was given the assignment to link up with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for the execution.
It added that the total sum released for the project stood at N1,618,734,943.47, and that the situation is worse in Ife-Odan, where more than six years after the award of the contract, it was yet to produce a drop of water
