The claim made by an anti-corruption alliance that the Lagos State House of Assembly granted a N17 billion contract for the construction of the Assembly’s gate has been deemed baseless.
In a statement released Thursday in Lagos, Mr. Stephen Ogundipe, the chairman of the House Committee on Information, Security, and Strategy, clarified the situation.
The Lagos State Anti Corruption Coalition, an anti-corruption organization, recently petitioned the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC) to look into the House leadership’s decision to grant the gate contract, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
In response, Ogundipe called the petition “frivolous” and said it was intended to damage the House’s reputation for political reasons.
The chairman stated that the assembly’s gate project had been completed more than three years prior, and that the state House of Assembly had not recently undertaken a project of similar nature.
Although the Assembly had its own procurement unit, he said it was important to inform the group that the state government’s procurement procedure was still used throughout the entire process.
He claims that it is absurd to believe that contracts are like witchcraft and that posting is done at night in Lagos.
There have been several attempts in recent days to discredit the Assembly and its leadership for their outstanding accomplishmentsConsent is not implied by our silence on some of the problems brought up by a group calling itself the Lagos State Anti-Corruption Coalition, an unidentified organization that claims to be against corruption.
However, we were compelled to present the facts because of our respect for Nigerians and our faith in future generations, and we did not want to elevate what appeared to be information taken from a joint or beer parlor with a response.
“As opposed to the fictitious group’s assertions, the Lagos State House of Assembly is an organization that grounds its operations in reality and facts.
For example, how can anyone or any organization ever comprehend that N17 billion could be such a huge sum? for the construction of a gate ? just one gate?Would the gate cost that much even if it were made of gold? To the group that chose to inform the public without carefully considering or verifying the information it claimed to have obtained from the “grapevine.”
Knowing that there was no such scheme at the House of Assembly as stated is a relief. He stated that the House’s gates had been restored more than three years prior.
The chairman went on to say that the group and its translators didn’t need to try to support their accounts with outdated claims that the court had rejected.
Attempting to “lump everything together to create a make-belief in the eyes of the public,” he charged the group
Ogundipe reaffirmed that the Assembly had expanded beyond the usual benchmarks of excellence and that citizens will keep cooperating for the state’s development, peace, and advancement.
