By Mumini Abdulkareem
Members of the 8th state House of Assembly have continued to react to
allegation of fraud leveled against them by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency, last week, in a report accused the lawmakers of
reportedly conniving with the leadership of the Kwara State Internal
Revenue Service (KWIRS) to collect 4million monthly which was said to
have been shared among the 24 lawmakers.
Former deputy speaker, Hon Mathew Okedare, House Leader of the 8th
Kwara Assembly, Hon Hassan Oyeleke among other lawmakers in the last
Kwara legislature have denied the allegation and challenged the EFCC
on the matter.
The latest addition to the growing list of former lawmakers who have
come out to refute the allegation is former chairman of the House
Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Judiciary, Hon Kamal Oyekunle
Fagbemi representing Oke-Ogun in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara
State.
Fagbemi, a lawyer by profession, gave the EFCC 21-day ultimatum to
withdraw the allegation failure upon which he will sue the commission
for damages and defamation of character that will โshake the agency to
its foundation levelโ.
According to Fagbemi in a statement on Wednesday, a copy of which was
sent to National Pilot, he described the allegation as most unfounded,
malicious, ridiculous and baseless.
He further described the action of the EFCC as political agenda and
vendetta and reiterated that he has โnever received any bribe or
proceeds of crime in respect of the allegation or any other one, at
any point in time during my tenure as a member of both 7th and 8th
Assemblies of Kwara State between June 2011 โ June, 2019โ.
โThe starting point is that the said allegation against the
ex-lawmakers generally is mostly unfounded and indeed, speaking for
myself, in particular, as one of the ex-member of the Kwara State
House of Assembly, the allegation is, no doubt, malicious, ridiculous
and baseless.
โAs a law-abiding citizen of Kwara State, I am quite aware that it is
the responsibility of EFCC to investigate any financial crime against
anybody including juristic persons in Nigeria and to come out clean
and plain with the result of its investigation, or at best, approach
the law court for remedies i.e. prosecution before going to the press
to make such malicious, reckless, ridiculous and frivolous allegation
against my person as a member of the 8th Assembly.
โFurthermore, I am worried, disturbed and concerned that an agency
such as EFCC could go on air without verifying its facts thereby
resulting in malicious, frivolous, vexatious and ridiculous allegation
injuring my character and that of my family purely masterminded for
political agenda and/or vendetta.
โTherefore, if such allegation against my person is not reversed
within 21 days of this publication, I shall be left with no other
option than to seek appropriate legal redress in court by way of
damages for defamation of character that will shake the agency to its
foundation level.
โAt this juncture, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to
members of my family, my amiable wife and children, my brother and my
boss, and my other siblings for their unwavering trust and support. To
every member of my constituency, friends and supporters through phone
calls, sms who have all been vouching for my integrity, I thank you
allโ.
