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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, July 26, 2004.
N.6m scam
rocks Tinubu’s office
By Lekan Sanni,
Correspondent, Lagos
The Round House
Office complex of the Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is
currently embroiled in a N600, 000 fraud allegedly perpetrated through a
scam letter written by a female graduate, using a non government
organisation (NGO), Ladies Enlightenment Association Programme (LEAP).
The letter has the signature of the governor forged.
The lady, Omolara Adeleye, was
said to have dropped the letter at the open registry in the governor’s
office. The letter was dated
April 9 and according to the stamp on it from the Chief of Staff, was
received on July 2.
The letter entitled, “Toward
the Betterment Living Standard of All Nation” (sic) moved up to the
secret registry with the knowledge or connivance of some yet unidentified
members of staff.
Parading the suspect at the
weekend, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the
governor, said the unusual movement of the letter led to suspicion as “it
went through abnormal processes.”
The letter sought the support
of the governor for assistance in training the youth and the women-folk
to ensure a better living standard for them.
The lady said she sent the
first letter on March 14, 2002, met the governor and discussed the issue
with him during the birthday celebration of Alhaja Abibat Mogaji.
“Your Excellency sir, you
promised to approve it for me.
You can now remember me.
I am Omolara Adeleye (LEAP). “Sir, I have not been able to benefit
from your kindness in your first term of office, but I believe that your
second term of office with your usual kindness to both the rich and poor
will be favourable to me”, she stated.
The letter did not request for
any specific amount, but on it N600, 000 was said to have been approved
with the forged signature of the governor and the chief of staff and the
permanent secretary.
The lady would have collected
the money two weeks ago as it had got to the final stage but had to be
delayed due to the suspicion, Egbetokun said.
According to him, preliminary
investigation revealed that all the signatories to the letter denied ever
giving such approval.
Adeleye was subsequently invited to come and collect her money and
was arrested immediately on her arrival.
In an interview with the
press, the suspect agreed that she was the author of the letter. She also said that her NGO was
not registered. Lending credence to suspicion of insiders help, she said
she agreed to give N400, 000 to those helping her, while she had intended
to use the remaining N200, 000 to set up a Vocational Centre.
She refused to name her
collaborators, even as she said she feared for her life but Egbetokun
said investigation was on-going to nab those involved.
Sources said the
amount may have been pegged at less than N1 million so that approval and
payment would be handled within the precinct of the round house as any
payment that was more than N1 million would have to go to the Ministries
of Budget and Economic Planning as well as that of Finance.
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