The former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has called the 12 and a half years of trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission unjust and groundless, viewing it as an unfair persecution despite his service to the state.
According to The PUNCH, Ikuforiji expressed immense relief after the Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed the money laundering charges against him by the EFCC
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday at his Ikeja office, two days after Justice Mohammed Liman acquitted him and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi, of the 54 counts of money laundering, Ikuforiji said, “My joy knows no bounds—almost 48 hours now. I am extremely grateful to God. I was the Speaker for 10 years and was persecuted for 12 and a half years over a wrongful allegation. I suffered unnecessarily for that period of 12 and a half years.”
He explained that the ordeal began with a petition to the EFCC, alleging that the Lagos State House of Assembly had coerced the governor into paying N500 million monthly as running costs, and that he had subsequently stolen and misappropriated N7 billion.
This, he said, was the start of his troubles.
“The EFCC came to the Assembly and combed the entire books of the House for three months and a week. And at the end of the day, they didn’t see any misappropriation, stealing, or embezzling of a kobo from the money released to the House. The officer who led the investigation affirmed that our book was the neatest and most detailed he had ever seen,” Ikuforiji recounted.
