Housing fraud: EFCC quizzes NAWOJ president, contractor again

Also recommended for further interrogation was the contractor, Prime Water View Holdings, which claimed to have spent N73m on road clearing and logistics at the proposed estate site. The duo had earlier been quizzed by the commission over the money, which was meant for financing low cost housing for the members. Recall PUNCH had in a report, titled ‘NAWOJ President, Omowole, faces fire over multimillion-naira journalists’ housing scandal’ revealed the scam surrounding how the money was spent. But a statement on Wednesday said Omowole and the contractor could not give satisfactory responses to questions on how the money was spent, when cross-examined by the EFCC’s Head of Operations in Lagos, Mr. Akan Esima. The statement read, “Former NAWOJ National Treasurer admitted collecting a cash of $227,000, which she claimed to have given to Omowole. The money is yet to be accounted for as Omowole also claimed to have given it to Deji Elumoye, a former Lagos NUJ Chairman, without any documentation. “Also, the $227,000, which Omowole unilaterally converted to naira, came under scrutiny. She said she changed $24,000 out of the $227,000 at the rate of N150 to a dollar in April 2016. The amount earlier reported was said to have been changed at the rate of N309 on March 1, 2016, realising N73m. “Omowole had no evidence to show for her expenditure, other than mentioning Elumoye’s name repeatedly. Elumoye has therefore been recommended for invitation. “Omowole and Tosin Odusola (the then treasurer of NAWOJ), who were later joined by Abimbola Oyetunde, a General Manager with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, were also at the EFCC’s office.”]]>