Group petitions EFCC, seeks Speaker, deputy’s probe over alleged N70bn OSOPADEC budget fraud

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has received a petition calling for an investigation into top officials of the Ondo State House of Assembly. The civic group, Ondo State Concerned Youth for Good Governance, alleges forgery and fraudulent alteration of the N70 billion 2025 budget for the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC).

The petition specifically targets Speaker Olamide Oladiji, Deputy Speaker Ololade Gbegudu, and the Clerk of the House, Benjamin Jayeola. It claims the Assembly leadership conspired to produce a forged House resolution to amend the OSOPADEC budget without proper lawmaker approval. The group asserts that signatures on the resolution dated December 11, 2025, were forged and that no plenary session was held to debate or approve the changes.

This development intensifies the ongoing leadership crisis within the Ondo State House of Assembly, which has paralyzed legislative activities for months. The petition follows separate allegations by 21 lawmakers who sought to remove Speaker Oladiji over concerns about the handling of OSOPADEC funds. The alleged manipulation of the budget is feared to have resulted in the diversion or unlawful appropriation of public funds.

The petitioners argue that any budget alteration must follow legislative procedures, including debate and approval during a plenary session, which they claim did not occur. This aligns with previous accusations by Ondo lawmaker Olawumi Fayemi-Obayelu, who also accused the Speaker of forging a resolution to alter the budget. She maintains that legislative records would show no such debate or approval took place, and that lawmakers from oil-producing communities were excluded from oversight roles.

The petition requests the EFCC to investigate whether the alleged manipulation led to the unlawful appropriation of public funds totaling N70,000,000,000. The group insists that the alleged actions by the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Clerk constitute a conspiracy to fraudulently manipulate the Assembly and pass an illegitimate resolution.

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Gleaning from the above grounds, it is crystal clear that the trio of the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, the Deputy Speaker and the Clerk jointly and severally conspired to forge the signatures of the Honourable members and fraudulently manipulated the institution of the Ondo State House of Assembly to pass a fraudulent resolution wherein a huge amount of money to the tune of N70,000,000,000 was appropriated without the approval of the House.