By Editor
More facts have emerged over the controversies surrounding the abandoned Ureje Water Work Resort Centre believed to be a constituency project of Senator Babafemi Ojudu.
The vast expanse of land which was designed to be a first class tourist hub in Ekiti State is now a shadow of the original plan having been overgrown by bush thereby raising concerns from many quarters about the ugly development.
Giving a fresh insight on the issue, the man at the centre of the controversy, Sen Babafemi Ojudu has revealed the inside details of the abandoned project.
The former lawmaker who represented Ekiti Central Senatorial District between 2011-2014 while fielding questions as a guest of a radio program during the week, explained that the idea was conceived by the three senators from Ekiti at the time.
Narrating what transpired during the period, the former Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari said the money allocated for the constituency project then was N750m
“We were not given the money which was domiciled in the relevant Ministry in my own case with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. I went to the Minister, Edem Duke from Cross River who happens to be an enthusiast of Tourism. He was excited when I told him I would domicile my budget in his Ministry and I described the place to him and he said he can get a contractor from South Africa that would do a beautiful work and this captured my excitement” he said.
However, things took a dramatic turn soon after when he went on official tour of United States.
According to him;; “I was on my way to America on official duty that time when I got a call from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry that they were shortlisting contractors for the job and they would like me to be present and I said, look, I’m on my way to America you could have given me adequate notice but I have somebody who has been appointed by the governor of my State to be the Liason Officer to we senators and that is one Mr (name withheld). He was a member of House of Reps in Lagos but he’s an Ekiti man who came here to play politics. He contested and lost but the governor appointed him to be the Liason Officer between Mr Governor and ourselves. So, I called the man and said, ‘Go and represent me’ I came back, they say the thing has been done and I said all well and good
“But to my surprise, I learnt at a meeting that my Liason Officer was the one nominating contractors on my behalf which were his own contractors for that project. Between him and Ministry officials, they colluded, they gave letter of award to the contractors. Not only that, gave letter of completion to the contractors so that the money could be taken from Ministry budget and then they could take their own. That was how they messed up the project. They did their shoddy job and left the place”
On measures he took to seek redress, the former presidential aide said: “I then wrote a petition using my lawyer Mr Toyin Oluwasola to the EFCC. They arrested all of them put them in detention and after some time I don’t know what happened to them. They freed them. I was also angry I wrote back a letter to EFCC, there was no reply.
“When I got to government as a Special Adviser, I wrote again to the ICPC and they said they were going to arrest them. I put a lot of pressure on them, nothing happened. May be the cost was top small for something they could spend their time on, I don’t know. What was put for that budget was N750m. By today if that project had been done it would have employed a lot of people directly or indirectly” he said
