A former Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Titilola Dauda, said on Thursday that he and his fellow lawmakers never received any car gift in 2005 to stop the process of impeaching the then Governor Rashidi Ladoja.
Dauda said the 14 vehicles delivered to the Oyo lawmakers did not come from Ladoja but were a product of a contractual relationship they had with a firm, VT Leasing.
Dauda said this on Thursday before the Federal High Court in Lagos where he testified in defence of Ladoja, who was charged with an alleged fraud of N4.7bn by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Ladoja is facing trial alongside a former Oyo State Commissioner for Finance, Waheed Akanbi.
The defence opened their case on Thursday following the dismissal of their no-case submission by Justice Mohammed Idris.
Led in evidence by the defence counsel, Mr Bolaji Onilenla, Dauda, who appeared as Ladoja’s first witness, told the court that he had a contractual relationship with VT Leasing for the purchase of a car.
He said, “The agreement was that I should pay a particular percentage upfront and thereafter rentals.
“I entered into an agreement with VT Leasing. I paid both my contribution and rentals. I am not owing VT Leasing. No member of the House was given any vehicle. Each of the 14 members benefitted from the VT Leasing arrangement.”
Dauda’s testimony was contrary to that of Ladoja’s then Senior Special Adviser, Chief Adewale Atanda, who had appeared as a prosecution witness against his ex-ally.
Atanda had in his testimony told the court that Ladoja purchased cars for 14 Oyo lawmakers loyal to him to escape impeachment in 2005.
He told the court that the cars were purchased with a loan sourced from Wema Bank, which was guaranteed with his (Atanda’s) assets.
