Three weeks to the commencement of trial in a money laundering and fraud case instituted against him by Nigeria’s anti-graft police, EFCC, the embattled speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Sabitun Ikuforiji has been manipulated in another fraud of diverting over N300 million tax payers money through frivolous seminars for local government chairmen and councillors.

The latest revelation is coming even as ireports-ng.com gathered that Mr Ikuforiji has begun a structured payment of a bribe of $1 million USD to Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the federal high court, Lagos where the EFCC last week re-arraigned Ikuforiji and his Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi for stealing public funds totalling over N273 million and laundering same through their bank accounts.

The first instalment of the bribe money, $500,000 was allegedly paid by Ikuforiji to Okeke at a location in Ikoyi last week after a prominent former governor of Lagos brokered a meeting between the embattled speaker and the trial judge on Bourdillion road, Ikoyi penultimate saturday. The meeting had dragged on into the wee hours of sunday during which our source revealed that Justice Okeke almost emptied a full bottle Moet Rose champagne.

The judge was said to have struck an agreement with the accused to fast track the case and dismiss it for lack of sufficient evidence to warrant conviction. It is after delivering the final ruling that he’s to take delivery of the final installment of $500,000.

Just as the schemes to get Ikuforiji out of the web of criminal trial are intensified, the embattled speaker has again been manipulated in a fresh N300 million scam. The speaker who inspite of his trial still collects a whooping N500 million as monthly running cost as first line charge from the state revenue collections, has perfected another way of stealing the Assembly funds.

An aggrieved member of the Assembly told ireports-ng.com today that the Speaker has hired a former member of senate and until recent a Commissioner in Lagos, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi as a consultant to organise seminars for councillors and chairmen of the 57 local government councils in the state to be held in Lagos and Accra, Ghana.

ireports-ng.com gathered that already, the seminar for the councillors had been held in Lagos last week while the one for the chairmen is to be held in Accra, Ghana next week. The Speaker is taking out of the state tax payers funds a whooping N300 million for the two seminars, a venture that should not cost tax payers more than N20 million .

Another member of the state Assembly who spoke to ireports-ng.com few minutes ago said of the seminars,”the speaker has not learnt anything please. The seminars he’s taking our money to organise is not the responsibility of the state house of assembly. That is purely the responsibility of the state local government service commission or the ministry of local government. This is purely being done to siphon our scarce resources. Please we need the public to know what we are seeing here.It is really annoying and fraudulent”. The two lawmakers who spoke to ireports-ng.com vowed to report the latest scam to the EFCC.

Ikuforiji was last week arraigned for alleged money laundering before a Federal High Court in Lagos by the EFCC. The Speaker and his Personal Assistant, Mr. Oyebode Atoyebi, who were arraigned on an amended 20-count charge before Justice Okechukwu Okeke, pleaded not guilty and were granted bail. While Ikuforiji got bail on self recognition, the Clerk of the Lagos Assembly, Mr Segun Habiru, stood as surety for Atoyebi.

The arraignment came almost a month after Justice John Tsoho, who was slated to take the case withdrew. Tsoho said his action was on “personal grounds.”

EFCC’s lawyer Godwin Obla informed the court of the existence of a charge against the accused persons and requested that it should be read to them. The defence team, led by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), did not object to the request. The charge was read to the accused and they pleaded not guilty.

After the arraignment, Oyetibo urged the court to grant bail to the accused persons on self recognition, the Speaker being the third citizen of the state. Obla did not oppose the bail application, but urged the court to attach conditions to Atoyebi’s bail.

Justice Okeke granted bail to Ikuforiji on self recognition and directed that someone stands as surety for Atoyebi. Trial has been slated to start on March 26. Ikuforiji and Atoyebi are being accused of accepting payments, amounting to N273,303,780 from the Assembly without going through a financial institution, an offence contrary to and punishable under Sections 16 (2) (b) and 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.

The offence was allegedly committed between April 2010 and July 2011.