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Ogun agency ex-boss debunks misappropriation claim, urges audit

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
22 September 2021   |   3:41 am
The former Managing Director of Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), Babajide Odusolu, has denied the allegation of financial misappropriation levelled against him by the Ogun State House of Assembly.

Babajide Odusolu

The former Managing Director of Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), Babajide Odusolu, has denied the allegation of financial misappropriation levelled against him by the Ogun State House of Assembly.

Odusolu, who denied the allegation during a press conference yesterday, in Lagos, said the allegation was false in its entirety.

He said that he was being headhunted just as many of his colleagues that served under former Governor Ibikunle Amosun. Odusolu said all the issues raised against him had been addressed during his appearance before the House, following the lawmakers invitation for the period under review.

“Also at this session were members of the then management team of OPIC led by its Director of Finance and Administration (DFA), Director of Projects, the Internal Auditor, the Head of Allocations and other members of OPIC finance team, who had apparently also been summoned by the committee.

“During the course of the interaction with the said House Committee, I provided clarifications on all issues handled by me as the Chief Executive Officer of the corporation, while referring all technical audit and accounting queries to the DFA, who was present to address them,” he said.

Odusolu said during his six-year tenure, the corporation spent approximately N15 billion and generated over N20 billion in revenues, adding: “All these projects successfully transformed the status, capacity and abilities of OPIC. We were 100 per cent self-funding and successfully grew the asset base of OPIC, turning it into a mega corporation with an asset base in excess of N60 billion.

“We operated under intense scrutiny with a principal, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and independently appointed auditors, who were not accountable or reporting to us.

“OPIC is a statutory corporation with legal personality. Attempt to hold me liable without any proven infractions directly attributable to me or obfuscating facts is a deplorable act, a clear and brazen abuse of legislative privilege and by so doing, the committee has done incalculable damage to my reputation and by extension, demarketing OPIC and Ogun State.”

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