Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
Police still
trailing Akande over alleged fraud
By ’Gbenga
Faturoti
Special
Correspondent,
Osogbo
Police on Tuesday
said they were still trailing former Osun State Governor, Chief Bisi Akande. He
was declared wanted over alleged N126 million fraud.
Head of the
Criminal Investigation Department of the Osun State Police Command, Mr.
Emmanuel Obiako, told Daily Independent in a telephone interview that
policemen were still looking for the former governor.
He said Akande
would be arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate Court, if he made himself
available to the police.
The Osun Police
Command had on Monday, issued a warrant of arrest against Akande over N126
million scam allegedly committed while in office.
The police accused
Akande of conspiracy “together with three others to defraud the state
government to the tune of the said amount.”
Those indicted
along with Akande and had already been quizzed by the police are the
ex-Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Sola Akinwumi, the former
Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Chief Lere Adebayo and a
consultant to the new governor’s office christened “Bola Ige
House,” Mr. Lanre Oladeji.
But Akande in a
letter to the State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, denied that he was hiding.
He said, “I am not on the run. I’m a public man and Nigerians know
who Bisi Akande is and what I stand for, I stand for integrity, accountability,
prudence.
“I live in
Ibadan. The police and the governor know where I live. Even when I was not
declared wanted, I made a statement to them. Up till now I have not seen a
letter from the police inviting me or declaring me wanted.”
Meanwhile,
politicians have been reacting to the warrant of arrest. The state Chairman of
National Conscience Party (NCP), Alhaji Waheed Lawal, admonished the police to
thoroughly investigate Akande’s involvement in N126 million fraud while
in office.
The reactions were
pouring in even when the police authorities declared that Akande would be
arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate Court immediately he made himself
available.
The state
secretariat of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) along MDS road, Osogbo was
deserted on Tuesday, as none of the officials of the party was available to
comment on the issue.
