‘Desperate’ Dapo Abiodun Allegedly Bribes Ogun Lawmakers To Pass N100 Billion Supplementary Budget Without House Quorum 

By Our Reporters

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has allegedly induced a group of lawmakers in the Ogun State House of Assembly with N1.5 million each to sit on a day the House does not formally hold its sittings and proceed to approve a supplementary budget of the whooping sum of N100 billion for him illegally as the statutory quorum of the House was not formed to validate the exercise.

  Sources privy to the activities of the House told The Dream Daily Newspaper that the illegal approval of the supplementary appropriation occurred on Friday, 5August, 2022.

   Explaining why the whole exercise is illegal, a sources said: “The Assembly rule stipulates that 18 members forms the quorum necessary to pass any financial bill. The Supplementary Budget is a financial bill. However, only 15 members sat today to pass it. That is clearly illegal and makes the whole exercise null and void.”

  The source continued: “Also, let me tell you how the Ogun State House of Assembly conduct their activities over the five working days of the week. Mondays are for Committee activities. Tuesdays and Thursdays are plenary days on which a bill like the Supplementary Budget are presented, debated and passed. On Fridays, the lawmakers do not come to the Assembly at all because the day is spent at their various constituencies for consultations with their people, meetings and all other activities. The House does not sit on Fridays. So you can see that what happed today borders on an illegal conspiracy by the 15 lawmakers and the Speaker, Hon. Olakunle Oluomo, to pass the supplementary budget behind the back of their colleagues. Why can’t they wait till next Tuesday when others would be around and a quorum can be formed?  

  Another Assembly source gave the names of the 15 lawmakers present at the Friday illegal meeting and who passed the Supplementary Budget as Hon Elemide Oludaisi, Hon Oladunjoye Abdul, Hon Sobukanla Olakunle, Hon Balogun Akeem, Hon Oduwole Kemi, Hon Fasuwa Abayomi, Hon Adeyemi Ademuyiwa, Hon Oyedeji Ganiyu, Hon Abiodun Sheriff, Hon Bello Atinuke, Hon Ajayi Lateefat, Hon Lamidi Musefiu, Hon Haruna Wahab, Hon Soneye Kayode and Hon Amosun Yusuf.

 The lawmakers away from the Assembly for their scheduled constituency duties and therefore absent and did not participate in the illegal session were listed thus: Hon Jemili Akingbade, Hon Solomon Oshom Hon Adejojo Yusuf, Hon Sikirat Ajibola, Hon Adeyanju Adegoke, Hon Adeniran Ademola, Hon Oludare Kadiri, Hon Mujota Onikepo Modupe,  Hon Adams Olushola and Hon Sylvester Abiodun.”

 According to the House rules, the Speaker Oluomo, who presided over the illegal passage of the budget, does not count towards the formation of quorum.

  Sources said Governor Abiodun has been at loggerhead with some members of the Ogun Assembly, which led the supplementary bill to being stuck in the House for weeks.

  “The governor has been very desperate to get the supplementary budget passed. But he has been unsuccessful in getting enough members to form a quorum and pass it. I think that is what led to today’s illegal sitting,” another Assembly source who pleaded anonymity like other told The Dream Daily Newspaper.

 “I can tell you authoritatively that N1.5 million exchanged hands before the supplementary budget was passed. It is so unfortunate that our leaders are dealing with us this way,” the source alleged.

 Last year, the EFCC launched an investigation into alleged corrupt practices at the Ogun Assembly in which the leadership of the House was reportedly indicted. However, it has been reported that officials of the anti-graft agency who handled the investigation have been allegedly compromised, hence the indictment has not seen the light of day.