N443m Bus Scandal: Tinubu’s Aide, Orelope-Adefulire in the Eye of the Storm
*Anti-Corruption Organisation Petitions EFCC
Enough has not been heard of the scandal of N443 million meant for the supply and delivery of buses to some schools in the southwest of Nigeria which took place at the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs).
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Zero Tolerance for Corruption, has taken the issue up and petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the scandal and bring all those culpable to face the law.
The petition was dated 19 February 2024 and was submitted to the anti-graft agency at its Lagos Office on Friday 23 February 2024.
The submitted petition to the EFCC was copied to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President, Code of Conduct Bureau, National Human Rights Commission, United Nations Human Rights Commission office, Geneva, UNICEF, UNDP, Transparency International, a global international agency that fights injustice of corruption and others.
In their petition, the Zero Tolerance for Corruption’ demanded that EFCC should investigate the matter and if found guilty, it should prosecute Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and others for abuse of office and violations of human rights of over 50,000 students from the 10 schools that were expected to make use of the buses.
In their petition, the organization said the alleged scandal was an act of diversion of public property for private use and after four years of privately using the buses, the OSSAP-SDGs and those involved now delivered the rickety buses to the beneficiary schools, adding that if not that the newspaper broke the scandal, Nigerians would have not known that some buses ought to have been delivered to some schools since 2021.
The NGO queried the rationale behind holding the buses for four years.
“We hereby demand the prosecution of those involved in this scandal if EFCC want Nigerians to take it seriously in the war against corruption, and not be selective in their operations.”
The organization said if the EFCC refuses to take action on the petition, they may resolve to go to court to compel the EFCC to do its work.
As at the time of filling this report, enquiries made to the OSSAP-SDGs management for its response to the latest development have not been responded to.
This newspaper got across to Princess Orelope-Adefulire, her media aide, Desmond Utomwen and Ahmad Kawu, the Secretary of the Program, but messages were not responded to.