Fashola’s Aide In Multi-Million Naira Scam

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News From The State Friday, May 8th, 2015

*It is N250,000 to append his signature, 20% of every executed project, N6 million Naira for rectorship etc

Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga is allegedly enmeshed in a multi-million scam involving the appointment of a new Rector for the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).

Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, LASPOTECH chapter and the non-academic staff unions have been kicking against plans by Olukoga to impose a stooge on the school and accused him of getting involved in shady multi-million scam.

A petition has been written to Governor Babatunde Fashola by Mr. Adelaja Waheed Aderigbigbe of the Council Affairs Unit, Registry Department, LASPOTECH.

The petition to the governor is captioned: “Flagrant Abuse of due process and gang ups in Lagos State Polytechnic to suppress quality leadership in order to cover up dirty deals.”

The petition drew the attention of the governor to the bondage the staff had been in the last four years under the rectorship of Dr Abdulazeez Abioye Lawal and his co-travelers, saying that the people allowed this brigand to fester this much because they don’t want to toe the line of its sister Institutions who are constantly in the news for no good reason.

Aderibigbe said the time bomb that required to be detonated immediately is the appointment of the LASPOTECH’s 10th Rector which process is currently raising dust as it had been established among the staff of the Polytechnic, “that truth is stood on its head. We all know ourselves, and we also understand the capacity of all the five applicants from the Polytechnic, the results flying round are obviously not a reflection of the Polytechnic’s egg heads.

“The connivance of the Special Adviser on Education, Rector of the Polytechnic and the guest Rectors at the interview cast aspersion on the outcome of the process. It is on record that, Mr Fatai Olukoga has been compromised by Dr Abioye Lawal. The same Dr Lawal fraudulently induced the guest Rectors to work in tandem with the script of fostering a stooge as the incoming Rector, to cover the huge financial mismanagement and recklessness of the duo (Olukoga and Rector),” he said in the letter.

He alleged that Olukoga took his job as your Adviser to an alarming level that portrayed Fashola’s government in bad light, saying that Olukoga works and signs every document on commission basis.

“It is N250,000 to append his signature, 20% of every executed project, N6 million Naira for rectorship, N3 million per Convocation, etc aside other ungodly gratifications during any festive period. Most times, monies are processed for him through the office of the school PRO- these are all verifiable facts.

“I quite understand the fact that, it is informal to swear and such action is alien to Nigerian constitution. But I make bold to say that, all the actors in this unfolding drama should swear to heavens and worth they believe in to prove their innocence. Documents don’t also lie sir. You may wish to investigate these conduit pipes sir; HAF-HAX Technology- owned by the Registrar’s husband; LASTAK- owned by the Rector and WAKO Construction Limited –owned by the Rector’s Personal Assistant.

“Your Excellency sir, it should be noted that I am not interested in any candidate, but in free and fair process that devoid favouritism, nepotism or ‘godfatherism. My prayers are that you should set up independent panel of inquiry to investigate all the aforementioned claims and others that I don’t have knowledge of, to save the Polytechnic from the threatening collapse

“You should investigate all the Special Adviser’s dirty dealings (some concealed in secrecy while some in the open) with the Polytechnic Management while the Governing Council was not in place. Invite Philip Consulting to provide the original results of the Computer Based Test (CBT) that was conducted for all the Candidates vying for the post of rectorship. Request for the original rough scores/grade from the league of Rectors, and question why grades were uttered

“You should inaugurate another panel of professionals and Academics to painstakingly scrutinize (a) the documents of the Applicants, (b) sincerely determine the states of origin, (c) adequately interview the Applicants (written & oral), (d) everything should be done in the full glare of cameras

“Please, constitute a formidable and progressive Governing Council for the Polytechnic to avoid further depletion of our scarce resources and the ‘military’ like leadership style,” he told the governor in the petition.

But Olukoga has defended himself, denying all allegations, saying that he could not have collected money since he was not the chairman of the committee that screened the intending rectors.

“There is a process that you go before a Rector is appointed. When we got a letter informing the government that the present rector will be leaving before his tenure, before now, the Rector of the polytechnic serves a 4-year term, but when the new edit was approved by the House of Assembly and signed by the State Governor, it gives the Rector a five year term, but the rector insists he wants to go and he told the government.

“So, we started the process. We appointed some State Executive members and somebody who had knowledge of the environment to be part of the sitting. So we have four executive members in the panel. We have Engineer Gasper, who was one time Rector of the Polytechnic, then we have three serving Rectors, one from the Federal Government (Yabatech) and two from the State Government (Mapoly and Ibadan Poly). We also have Philip Consultants, tell me, with this group, how do you manipulate?

“When they came, the only thing my office did was to do the screening with members, with the Special Adviser on Environment as Chairman, so I am not the chairman, therefore, I cannot manipulate. So, we had 14 candidates. We looked at the criteria and qualification and we screened them to seven. Next thing was to pass them to scholarship board, that has panel members, who are knowledgeable in terms of state identification, and they did. They sealed their report, it was not open on the day of the interview,” he explained.

Olukoga said at the end of the day, a result emerged as recommendation was made to the governor.

“You must score 70 per cent and above, if you score less, you cannot be recommended. So the committee recommended first, second and third. And somebody who came behind is going about shouting. In summary, due process was followed and nobody collected money from anybody,” he said.