Ikuforiji spent N21.6m on foreign trips – Witness

Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji

A prosecution witness in the trial of the Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji,  on Tuesday narrated how the Speaker spent million of naira belonging to the house on his trips.

Adebayo Adeniyi, who is a witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,  also told the court how the defendants collected N13.5m for honorarium, N4.5m for  renovation of his  residence, and another N1.5m for the Speaker’s Guest House every month for six months.

According  to the witness, Kuforiji in 2010  collected N1.2m on May 12 for an emergency meeting in Abuja; N5.2m on May 1 for a trip to Spain ; and N3m on June 21 for Umrah.

The Speaker, Adeniyi said, also colected N2.8m  for a trip to Italy; N5.5 m for another trip to Chicago.

He equallly spent N3.9m for election monitoring in California.

Other spendings of the Speaker, as narrated by the EFCC witness include the purchase of a Kia Rio car N1.7m;  and  N4.2m to purchase furniture for the Speaker’s office.

Ikuforiji and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi,  are facing a 54-count amended charge of money laundering amounting to over N600m.

The EFCC accused the Speaker and his aide of receiving the money from the Lagos State House of Assembly without passing through a financial institution.

The trial was adjourned last January for the prosecution to provide a summarised version of the monies collected by Mr. Ikuforiji and his aide.