The Civil Society Network Against Corruption, which is a coalition of over 150 anti-corruption organizations, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to launch a thorough investigation into the N1.1 billion contract scandal allegedly involving the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf.
Yusuf, an Engineer has been accused of using his company, Nur & Company Nigeria Limited, to secure contracts amounting to about N1.1 billion from the Federal Government through the Ministry of Water Resources.
In a petition forwarded to the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and signed by CSNAC’s National Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the Network said if the allegation is found to be true, appropriate sanctions and or prosecution should be made against the lawmaker to serve as a deterrent to other like-minded individuals.
CSNAC said it took its cue from a report by the New Telegraph Newspaper, published on May 24, 2018, which is reported to be four months painstaking budget tracking investigation, that Yusuf during his first term in the House, used Nur & Company Nigeria Limited to secure two mini-water schemes in Osun State, as advertised on behalf of the ministry by the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.
The petition reads: “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).
“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.
Adeyeye said Ife-Odan, Ipetu-Ijesha and Ila-Orangun were chosen as beneficiary communities for the West, East and Central Senatorial Districts respectively for the construction of the mini water schemes, adding that: ‘It was Lasun that was given the assignment to link up with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for the execution.’