The Code of Conduct Bureau on Wednesday quizzed the leadership of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission over alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the commission to the tune of N463m.
Those invited by the CCB included the secretary of the commission, Mrs Abike Bayo-Ilawole, and two other directors.
Bayo-Ilawole, who was among the public servants recently promoted to the position of permanent secretary in the state, was alleged to have been involved in the misappropriation of about N463m in the commission a few weeks ago.
She was specifically accused of diverting part of the money to a private bank account.
Speaking with journalists after being questioned by CCB officials at the bureau’s office in Akure, Ondo State, on Wednesday, Bayo-Ilawole said she was invited over allegations of fund misappropriation but maintained that she was innocent.
She said, “I was invited by the Code of Conduct over alleged fund misappropriation. We just started the investigation. The allegation is about N463m. I told them nothing of such happened, and the record will speak for itself.”
On the allegation of diverting money to a personal account, she said, “I said the record will speak for itself. It is not true. The one they quoted, that money was sent to my father’s account, was for a long-term project.
“My father was a contractor then, and it was not up to that amount. But the record will speak for itself, as I said.
“The two officers whose names were mentioned supervised other colleagues. It could be their allowances or what they needed to spend on the project.
“They should allow me to go through the records so we can separate the issues and know what actually transpired. One major thing is that the fund was not released at once; it was over a period of time.
“We have projects such as school renovations, transformers and office renovations. Our areas are riverine, so we move around for supervision.
“We are not talking about missing funds. The projects were completed. We followed the necessary procedures before executing the projects.”
She insisted that she had documents to back her official dealings in the commission, reiterating that “the record will speak for itself.”
Also speaking, the Director of Project Planning and Development at OSOPADEC, Mr Olukorede Adeshina-Oladapo, said he was invited over an allegation circulating on social media.
He said, “What was on social media was not correctly presented.
“In the office, we got approval from the governor to carry out direct labour jobs. We had 21 school renovation projects, renovation of the area office, construction of culverts in Atijere and renovation of an office complex. Those transactions were done through direct labour.
“We have a procurement committee. Other management staff were involved, and records of meetings were kept. We reported to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which benchmarked the project requests.
“It was not only the 21 projects approved by the governor, but we selected those that were urgent and could be attended to immediately. Those were the ones executed.
“Before we proceeded, after the governor’s approval, we requested a ‘no objection’ from the appropriate office, and it was granted.
“As we complete the projects, we also apply for certificates of completion. Some of the projects have been completed, while funds for others are still in the account. No fund is missing.”
