Former Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Dare Kadiri has revealed how his signature was faked by some lawmakers to withdraw up to N50 million from the Assembly’s bank account.
Kadiri made this disclosure in a statement on Saturday, while challenging the current Speaker, Hon. Olakunle Oluomo, to explain how his signature was forged to withdraw money without his knowledge.
He also explained that he confirmed the forgery after he was invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday.
The withdrawal was for foreign training and seminars he did not attend.
Kadiri said, “I saw a report online recently, and attached to it is a document with my signature. Like two to three days later, I got a call from the EFCC asking me to come. I went there on Monday.
“The EFCC asked me one or two questions and they showed me my signature and asked if I was the one that sent out the documents. I said no. They asked me about the signature and I told them I don’t know anything about that signature and I didn’t collect any money. I was aware that the Speaker, being the leader of the house should be able to explain things about the signature. That was all, and they allowed me to go.
“I know the EFCC is investigating the house. I was impeached because I was asking questions, and I felt the Speaker was not open about the accountability of the house. When I was the deputy speaker, I didn’t know all about the finances of the house, the amount the executive was giving us; I didn’t know about our running cost. The Speaker removed me from all committees in the house, I don’t belong to any committee anymore. Yet, I didn’t talk.”
On what he saw at the EFCC office in Lagos, the lawmaker said, “What I saw online was just two documents. I saw bundles of documents at the EFCC office with my signature forged on it; a very big Ghana-must-go bag with my fake signatures and other members’ signatures. They claimed that I collected money like N2million, N400,000, N3million, N4million, N1million at different times in the last two years. They said I went for foreign training, I went for seminars, slept in hotels. Which foreign training? Since I came, I have never been to any training or seminar and I didn’t sign any document.
“The money they said I signed was an average of 50 million Naira. It can’t be less than that for my own alone.
“At the EFCC, I saw other members’ signatures. But, I can only speak for myself. I saw all the signatures but I can’t say if theirs were forged or not. I won’t say that their own were forged, but mine was forged.”
He challenged the Speaker “to answer the question on the forgery because he is the chief officer of the house. Everything goes through him. So, it’s Mr. Speaker that I will allege, probably with some other people, but I don’t know. He was the one that took the documents to EFCC, so he should be the one to tell us. That’s the question I want to ask when I go back to the office on Tuesday that, who forged this signature? I will speak for myself, I don’t know about other people. EFCC said they will be calling others at the appropriate time.”