The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reportedly begun the investigation of the new Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and his company, Metropole Interproject Limited, over an alleged N400 million forgery.
A frontline human rights activist, , Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman, Executive Chairman, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), whose petition led to the investigation, disclosed that he has been invited by the anti-graft agency to come and shed more light on the petition.
The petition dated Monday, 2nd November, 2015 entitled “Request for Prosecution of Prince Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi and his Company named Metropole Interproject Limited for the Offence of forgery, Fraudulent Conversion and Obtaining the sum of N400 million by false Pretence” was forwarded to the EFCC Chairman and received on Friday, November 6, 2015. Copies were also sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, Transparency International (TI), Embassy of the United Kingdom (UK), as well as those of the United States of America (USA) and Republic of Canada.
The petition was supported with the series of evidence, including a petition letter dated 7th September, 2015 which authored by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Rotimi Jacobs of Rotimi Jacobs & Co Chambers.
Comrade Sulaiman said in a signed statement issued yesterday in Lagos that he received a phone call from an EFCC official advising his group to report at the commission’s Economic and Governance Crime (EGC 1) department in Lagos this week.
According to him, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited us and we are going to appear before it this week to substantiate our position on the subject matter. Our belief is that to every logical mind, the gold is gold, regardless of whether a Prince
or beggar, is holding it in his hand. There is need for inculcation of moral value to our society through the palace in every community in the land and anybody that would occupy the position of authority should come with integrity in order to serve as a good example to younger generation.
“It is also our belief that if you are preaching equity, you must come with clean hand. Worshiping of money and world materials increases the social vices in the country today which makes the corruption to be on the increase geometrically. We don’t have any personal grudge
against Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi because we believe that God makes a leader but we want justice to be done on any issue of this nature as it has been part of our stand. Anybody alleges of any wrong doing needs to clear his or her name first before occupying any exalted position. It is because Nigeria as a country has been eroded of moral values where brigandage takes the order of the day.”
Comrade Sulaiman urged EFCC to also “invite Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, who authored the first petition on the matter, and as well as Professor Gabriel Olawoyin, the head of Olawoyin & Olawoyin Chambers, to come and state their position on the mind-boggling issue.”