By Olatunde Dodondawa
In a country where many Nigerians live below the poverty line, recent investigations revealed that no less than 64 bank accounts were linked to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa.
The bank accounts all linked to Obasa’s BVN 2296663231; revealed that Obasa operates accounts with multiple names in different banks and different names. The accounts are linked to Polaris Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Ecobank Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa, First City Monument Bank and Wema Bank.
It is alleged that Obasa uses the accounts to siphon public funds for the National leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who has resuscitated his presidential ambition come 2023.
Since 2014, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), introduced the registration of customers in the financial system using biometric technology, BVN has been used to expose frauds perpetuated by various individuals in various systems of the government in the country.
Obasa, used names including Ajayi Mudashiru Obasa, Obasa Abdulrahman Gbadunola, Adeyemi David Adebayo, Adeyemi D. Adebayo, to register some of the bank accounts.
Some of the companies linked to the BVN are Quick Solution International Ventures; White Honey Enterprises; Cream On Ice Services; A.B DELCO Nigeria Company; Fabric Splash Ventures; Skye-Macosh Company; Swifthill International Ventures; Silver Section Global; Davedab Global Ventures; Adesav International Ventures; Fabric Splash Ventures; Swifthill International Ventures and Quick Solution International.
Further investigations revealed that the erstwhile Governor of Lagos State and political pillar who played influential roles in President Muhammadu Buhari’s election and re-election in 2015 and 2019 respectively, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is behind the fraudulent acts of the speaker.
It is also exposed that Obasa is responsible for getting N20 million from each Local Government (LG) of Lagos State and Local Council Development Area (LCDA) which he deposits into different accounts as instructed by Tinubu who bears the titular of “The Lion of Bourdillon” and the “Jagaban”.
Just as he boasts that he will always get off the hook because all officials within the Nigerian system have their price tags, the media has been manipulated to work for the government against their obligation as the Forth Estate of the Realm.
One of the media groups created to write and speak for President Muhammadu Buhari and the entire APC party members is known as Buhari Media Group (BMG).
In retrospect, it might be difficult to come to terms with the fact that an individual could hold the entire south west to ransom. And there is no doubt that Tinubu has succeeded in buying the Lagos State government, thereby mortgaging the future of the coming generations with his numerous fraudulent acquisition in the state, and he has done this using government funds.
In the same vein, it was alleged that Alpha Beta, a consultancy firm, which first became known when it was appointed as a consultant to the Lagos State Government, arguably its first client, is partly or completely owned by Tinubu.
It was alleged the company takes about 10 per cent of internally generated revenue of Lagos State, estimated in 2016 to be about N40 billion every month but after an outrage by citizens of the state and other political parties, the state denied the allegation.
Recall that during the 2019 general elections, Four (4) bullion vans were seen driven into the premises of the political lord amidst crowd at the entrance of his Bourdillon mansion in Ikoyi, Lagos State, which led to an outburst on and offline on why an individual could control this much in a country where many live below one dollar a day.
When questioned, the All Progressives Congress stalwart, Bola Tinubu, told those asking questions about the presence of bullion vans at his residence in Bourdillon, to mind their business, adding that he can keep his money wherever he wants. He said this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after casting his vote.
Few months after, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, refused to answer questions on why the anti-graft agency has failed to probe the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, over cash-carrying bullion vans seen at his home on the eve of the presidential election as it is known that only armoured vehicles usually deliver large sums of money to banks.
In response to questions by Nigerians, the EFCC said on twitter that it refused to probe the case despite mounting calls from Nigerians and civil society organisations because there was no petitions against Tinubu.
In response to the challenge, political activist, Deji Adeyanju, on October 25 filed a formal petition demanding an investigation into the matter. Mr Adeyanju addressed the letter to Mr Magu.
Tinubu is the number one landlord in Lagos and has turned Lagos land worth trillions of Naira into his personal possession to be used freely or given away unaccounted for. He gives out Lagos land to curry political favours and still occasionally signs certificates of occupancy even as ex-governor and backdating them to the period he was in office.
These brazen acts of corruption are being perpetrated with the active collaboration of select few public officers who are obscenely wealthy at the expense of Lagos tax payers.
Tinubu converted all the plots of land where Lagos Polytechnic was located at Ikosi near the old toll gate. He chased away the Polytechnic in 2006 and went ahead to locate the choice plots to himself, his cronies and political associates. The headquarters of Television Continental (TVC), which is owned by him, is located there. He deprived the youths of Lagos of decent education because of his greed.
Tinubu’s residence at 26 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi was initially falsely presented as Oando Plc Guest House. Later, he purportedly bought it from Oando, and used public funds to rebuild and renovate it. The Lagos State Government bought the property and paid an undisclosed sum to him and thereafter gave the property back to him under the bogus Pension Bill he signed to law shortly before he left office in 2007. The property is worth over N600 million.
Other properties which are directly linked to Tinubu include: 4, Oyinkan Abayomi (formerly Queens) Drive, Ikoyi: A 5-bedroom detached house on one acre of land which was originally the Lagos State Governor’s guest house since 1979, but which now belongs to Tinubu. The certificate of occupancy of the property valued at N450 million was signed and released to him by Fashola in 2007 shortly after he assumed office;
Tinubu’s residence at 26 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi was initially falsely presented as Oando Plc Guest House. Later, he purportedly bought it from Oando, and used public funds to rebuild and renovate it. The Lagos State Government bought the property and paid an undisclosed sum to him and thereafter gave the property back to him under the bogus Pension Bill he signed to law shortly before he left office in 2007. The property is worth over N600 million as at December 2012;
The annex of the Lagos State Guest House in Asokoro, Abuja, was bought by the State Government in 2006 for N450 million, purportedly to protect the main house from security breach. Shortly after Tinubu left office, the property was transferred to him under the pension plan he signed into law before leaving office;
The 250-hectare land valued at about N35billion and strategically located at the Ajah junction on Lekki Road was initially meant for a General Hospital for the people of Eti-Osa Local Government but was stolen by Tinubu and handed over to Trojan Estate Ltd – a company owned by Deji and Wale Tinubu – to develop as Royal Garden Housing Estate at the expense of the taxpayers of Lagos;
The 1,000 hectares of land valued at about N75billion located at Lakowe near Abijo at Ibeju-Lekki Local Government and given to Lekki Concession Company (LCC) which is partly- owned by Tinubu and Fashola and being developed as golf course and housing estate by Assets and Resource Management Ltd (ARM) as ADIVA project;
The prime land of 157 hectares with 2.5km of Atlantic beachfront valued at about N10billion and stolen by Tinubu from the communities of Siriwon, Igbekodo, Apakin, etc in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government and given to Ibukun Fakeye – his crony to build a golf course and luxury villa with little or no compensation to the villagers. In addition, Tinubu paid $20million (N3billion) out of public treasury to Ibukun Fakeye to commence the project in late 2006. Fashola released additional funding for the project, which is not owned by the state government;
The 14-hectare Parkview Ikoyi Estate foreshore land reclaimed by Lagos State Government is now owned by Bola Tinubu; while in office, he allocated to himself the former Strabag yard beside the Lagos State Secretariat at Alausa, Ikeja. Ikeja Shopping Mall (host to Shoprite and other brands) has been built on the said property. This is public property brazenly stolen and now owned by Tinubu, aided by Fashola;
The choice property at Lekki-Epe road on which he built and owns the multi-billion naira Oriental Hotel and the extension of multi-storey car park beside it. Also, the multi-level recreation centre by Mobil in Oniru Estate on Lekki-Epe road jointly owned with ARM and Tunji Olowolafe. All these assets valued at over N25billion were obtained without paying a kobo to the Lagos State Government;
Tinubu’s wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, built the massive New Era Foundation youth camp at the junction of Eleko, off the Lekki-Epe express road, with Lagos State funds and has now converted it to personal use; Tinubu owns the Fara Park Estate and the Beach Wood Estate both in Lekki.
It is unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari, whose campaign was based on ‘Ending Corruption in Nigeria’ will be having a bromance with Mr. Tinubu who is now at the forefront of succeeding him in 2023 partly because he has the resources and the wherewithal to bribe his way from INEC officials to members of the security agencies and the judiciary. Nigerians call on the INEC to investigate fairly all political contenders to ensure that candidates with unblemished records emerged as contestants into various political offices across the nation.
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