By Demola Akinyemi
The immediate past Speaker of Kwara state house of Assembly Dr Ali Ahmad has denied that he defrauded Kwara State Internal Revenue Service(KWiRS) of N5B or any other amount as claimed by the current Governor AbdulRahman Andulrazaq led administration in the state.
Ahmad who stated this in a press statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday also denied that he collected N400M from any lawmaker..
The former Speaker who expressed shock at the allegation of the present administration through the office of the EFCC recalled that the 8th assembly was known for checking the excesses of members of the Executive branch and balancing governmental powers for the overall benefit of the citizens.
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He said,”Thus, yesterday I had the opportunity to volunteer my own statement to the Commission where I placed on record as follows:”
“The 8th Kwara State of House of Assembly or I did not conspire with anyone to swindle five billion Naira or any other amount “belonging to the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service.”
“Virtually all Honourable members of the 8th Assembly have publicly denied the allegation of receiving or participating in sharing N4 million Naira monthly from the KWIRS.
“ I, Rt. Hon. Ali Ahmad, did not collect four million Naira monthly from any Honourable member and never distributed any money to any Honourable member“
He added that,”The old practice that a Speaker directed, collected and shared money was alien to the 8th Assembly.”,stressing that,” Every single member of the 8th Assembly, the management staff, including former and current Clerks of the House, will bear witness that I never for once got involved in financial matters. It is incontrovertible that when it comes to money matters, I led from behind.”
He stressed that ,”The money given by the Revenue Service to the Honourable Chairman of Finance and Appropriation was not illegal as wrongly muted and, in any case, the N5 billion Naira being investigated by law enforcement agencies has nothing to do with the House of Assembly. “
The former Speaker also advised the current administration saying“Whoever wants to recover Kwara money should go elsewhere as the 8th House of Assembly did not deal in money matters, contract awards or employment. The present Kwara State Government will do well to concentrate on governance and exit the campaign mode for now.” He said
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