Alleged N4.7b fraud: Trial ends in Ladoja’s case

The trial of a former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja and one of his aides, Waheed Akanbi, for alleged N4.7 billion fraud, came to a close yesterday at a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Justice Mohammed Idris wrapped up the trial after Ladoja gave his defence from the witness box.

The judge fixed January 18 for parties to adopt their written addresses.

Earlier, in his examination-in-chief, Ladoja denied authorising the sale of Oyo State government’s shares at discounted price.

He said the decision to sell the shares was taken by the State Executive Council (Exco) when he returned to office on December 11, 2006, following the nullification of his impeachment by the Supreme Court.

The former governor added that the proceeds from the sale of the shares were deployed towards projects execution.

Ladoja said: “On our return to office, we found out that most of the items we had in our budget in 2006 were not touched. We were then looking for money and the second defendant, who was the Commissioner for Finance, was saddled with the responsibility of looking for the money. He then came up with the idea of selling the shares.

“We later called functionaries at the Ministry of Commerce, but they told us that the shares had been tied down to the purchase of rice. We then found a way of freeing the shares. At that point, the second defendant made his submissions to the Exco on the sale of the shares, and it was approved.

“A memo was later raised by the Commissioner for Finance and I approved it. I had no dealings with either the Portfolio Manager of Fountain Securities Limited or its Managing Director, Chief Kola Daisi.”

The former governor said he was not privy to the total amount of money realised from the sale of the shares and that he did not personally benefit from it.

He said: “It is for the officials to follow-up with the revenue; my job stopped at the point of approving the sale of the shares. The revenue generated from the sale of the shares was expended on certain projects.”

Recalling the events that led to his impeachment, Ladoja said: “The group that called for my impeachment was led by the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.

“The politician believed he had a right to security votes because he was securing the state. But I thought otherwise. It was a running battle until I later found out that the Presidency was involved. Some members of the House of Assembly were promised a lot of things by Adedibu. I later got to know that my deputy was also involved in the plot to remove me.”