– Speaker Denies Receiving Summons
A bench warrant was issued on Friday by a Federal High Court in Lagos for the arrest of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, purportedly for failing to honor a summons issued concerning his alleged involvement in a fraud case filed against him the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The arrest warrant, according to Justice James Tshoho, who presided over the hearing, is to compel the appearance of the both Speaker Ikuforiji and his Personal Assitant, Mr. Oyebode Alade, in court at the next adjourned date to face a criminal charge filed against them by the Commission.
Jusice Tsosho’s order followed an oral application by EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Godwin Obla, who alleged that the Speaker failed to make himself to the authorities.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media yesterday reads: “It has come to the attention of the Lagos State House of Assembly that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), may have procured a warrant of arrest from a Lagos High Court to clampdown on the Speaker, on the pretext that he failed to honour a court summons.
A 20-count charge had been filed against both men
Speaker Ikuforiji responded on Friday through his Special Assistant on media matters that he was not aware of any summons issued him, saying “To the best of our knowledge, the Hon. Speaker has not received any court summon up till now requesting him to show up in any court.
“As a law abiding public officer, he would have definitely honored such a summons.
“The truth of the matter however is that no such thing as a court summons has been received. So, it will be incorrect to insinuate that Ikuforiji refused to honour a court summons of any such.
“As a law abiding public officer, the Hon. Speaker has always made himself available to the top officials of the EFCC since the beginning of the commission’s probing of the petitions by some faceless groups regarding an alleged N7billion fraud that was sent to the EFCC some months ago.”
EFCC lawyer Godwin Obla revealed to the court that he was informed by the Investigating Police Officer in charge of the matter that the accused persons were requested to present themselves to the EFCC on Thursday, but that they asked for a day’s extension
Obla added that the Speaker and his aide again neglected the undertaking. Based on that, he urged the court to issue a warrant for the accused to be compelled to appear in court, a request, which was granted by the court.
Justice Tsoho adjourned the matter to January 17, 2012 for arraignment of the accused persons.
According to the charges, the EFCC accused the Speaker and his aide of misappropriating the Assembly’s funds to the tune of N518.1million.
Ikuforiji, who was charged under the Money Laundering Act, was accused of conspiring with Atoyebi to accept various cash payments from the Assembly without going through designated financial institutions