Doyin Okupe Owns Up to Allegations of Contract Fraud, Opts for Settlement

Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe has finally owned up to the allegation of defrauding Benue and Imo State government for which he was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, report said.

He is also said to have opted to settle the differences with the Benue state government, just few days after he denied at several instances that the report crediting him to defrauding the two states are false.

In a report published on abusidiqu.com, Dr Okupe was fingered in a contract scam involving over N300million with the Benue state during the regime of Senator George Akume, where he collected a mobilisation sum of about N200 million and thereafter abandoned the project, an allegation the Presidential Aide vehemently denied. He had not succeeded in calming down the heat thrown up by this allegation when fresh facts emerged that he was not only being investigated by the EFCC over the Benue contract scam but that he had actually being detained for four weeks in the agency’s cell over a similar case in Imo state, an allegation that he also denied.

Report have it that President Jonathan’s attack dog decided to open up to some of his friends who he approached to help launch damage control campaigns in the media after coming under pressures of resignation and prosecution especially from the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

Ireports-ng.com reports that Dr Okupe has not only repented of denying his face-off with the law over contract scams, he has gone ahead to brief a Lagos based lawyer, Yemi Gbonegun to represent him in a settlement arrangement he is negotiating with the Benue state government over the contract scam, his friend who wished to be anonymous said

It also said a lawyer in the chambers of Gbonegun confirmed that Okupe was indeed awarded a rural road contract in Benue during the administration of Mr George Akume through Okupe’s company, Messrs Value Trust Investment Ltd.

Okupe’s decision to own up to the allegation and enter into negotiations with the Benue state government through an arbitration we learnt, is to block the EFCC from pressing criminal charges against him, after the anti corruption agency was warned by the ACN not to cover up the case even as its chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde is said to have obtained an updated status reports on the two cases against Okupe to brief President Jonathan whenever he makes the request.

According to iReports-ng.com the public relations consultants already hired and paid millions of naira by Mr Okupe will in the coming days hit newspaper houses with reports that will paint Okupe as an asset to President Jonathan rather than a liability.

It said Okupe’s image minders will also attempt to portray the contract scam as a civil case by letting the public believe that the disputes arose over the contract because there was a change of baton between Akume who awarded the contract to Okupe and incumbent Governor Gabriel Suswam who seeks to recover the millions of Benue funds.

Additional report from Ireport-ng.


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