The Lagos State Government reportedly approved the sum of N24.5m for the renovation of the official residence of the Commissioner of Police in the state a few days before the last general election in the state.
The project was executed by Omay Engineering Services Ltd with approval dated February 6, 2023.
The approval was discovered in the Public Procurement awards carried out by the state government in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2023.
The state Ministry of Justice also paid N200m to four Senior lawyers to represent Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat in pre-election matters.
A sum of N20.8m was also released by the state government for the decoration of the venue for political delegates congress.
However, the money was approved on June 26, more than three months after the 2023 general elections.
The sum of N6.1m was approved in July for the provision of furniture items at the Campaign office, GRA, Ikeja.
Meanwhile, the deputy governor has reacted to the controversy, saying he got N2 million for rechargeable fans, not N2 billion.
In a memo addressed to the Director General of the procurement agency, Hamzat also claimed that his wife got N2.5m each for her monthly outreach to indigents and empowerment programmes against the N30m captured by the agency.
Hamzat, in the memo signed by Director, Finance and Account, Tola Ekemode, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary in the office of the deputy governor, said the report by the agency was untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded.
It is important to state that truly, the office did get approval and awarded the provision of supply items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridges) for the sum of =N=2,017,840 (Two Million, Seventeen Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Naira) as against the =N=2,017,840,000 (Two Billion, Seventeen Million, Eight Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira as reported by Doherty in his purported letter.
In addition, the report that the office through the Wife of the Deputy Governor spent =N=30,000,000 monthly for outreach to indigents is inaccurate as the amount stated covered the whole year. It is =N=2,500,000 per month. Same for the Empowerment programme by the Wife of the Deputy Governor which also =N=2,500,000 per month as against =N=30,000,000 monthly reported, read the memo.
Kazeem Badmus is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience. A professional in journalism and media writing, Kazeem prioritses accuracy and factual reportage of issues. He is also a dexterous finder of the truth with conscious delivery of unbiased and development oriented stories.
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