N4.3b: Finance Commissioner, Accountant General Were Not Quizzed - Ondo Govt

★★★ the report was disappointing, says EFCC

The Ondo State Government on Wednesday described the reported interrogation of its officials by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) over the N4.3b fund as a hoax.

A national Newspaper had on Wednesday, published a report claiming the state Finance Commissioner, Wale Akinterinwa as well as the Accountant General, Laolu Akindolie were whizzed by the antigraft over the find which had been stashed in a dormant account with Zenith Bank for over ten years.

The State Government’s reaction which debunked the report came just as the EFCC expressed disappointment in the publication, which it described as “unprofessional”.

“I’m highly disappointed in that reporter who wrote the story; if he has any personal issue to settle with the Ondo State Government, he should not use the EFCC as a vehicle.

“There was no such operation on officials of the Ondo State Government. The reporter in question called me and I told him there was nothing of such; so for him to go ahead and write such a report shows how unprofessional some of us can be”, EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale told reporters on telephone.

The Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Donald Ojogo, in a statement said the author of the report was merely mischievous.

“The report, in all intents and purposes, was a gross display of mischief and an abysmal display of ignorance by those who initiated and disseminated it.

“If the report was intended to expose the paucity of ideas and the futility of a naked public square dance to elicit attraction, it may have succeeded. But if it was intended to distract the Government of Ondo State from its focus and commitment to good governance, it missed the point because we won’t provide a path for such.

“For the records, the said fund was discovered by the current commissioner for Finance in 2018 and said fund was duly appropriated for in 2019 budget passed by the State Assembly. Mr Akinterinwa never lodged the money in Zenith Bank as erroneously painted in the report. Daily Independent’s conclusion was a hurriedly but unprofessionally packaged hachet job that defied logic.

“The doubtful credibility of the report shows it was a futile hunt for relevance. The fact that the reporter and his platform failed to know that the 2019 aAppropriation Act passed by the State Assembly included the sum of N4.3b gives credence to our assertion.