Date: 2017-03-27

The car dealer who the Senate contracted to supply the seized Range Rover Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), Tokunboh Akindele, has exonerated the Senate President, Bukola Saraki from the transaction.

He also said he did not know the Customs documents issued to him were forged. Akindele said this in an affidavit he swore to at the Lagos High Court registry on January 25.

There has been a controversy over the seized vehicle reportedly owned by Saraki. Sahara Reporters reported that the delivery driver had a TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN letter from the National Assembly liaison office in Lagos saying the car was for Saraki.

The site further reported that after the car was impounded by Customs for underpayment of duty as well as having fake papers, one O. A. Ojo acting as Secretary of Procurement, Estate, and Works of the National Assembly, wrote to the service requesting the release of the vehicle which he said belonged to the convoy of the "senate".

One letter given to the delivery driver, according to online medium, Sahara Reporters said the car was for Saraki.

The controversy rippled when the upper legislative chamber summoned Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), to appear in uniform. The Customs had planned to enforce a retroactive collection of duty on vehicles, but the Senate intervened, summoning Ali.

Although, Ali appeared before the Senate last Thursday, he did so in civilian attire and was ordered out of the chamber. He was however asked to re-appear in Customs uniform on Wednesday, which subsequently led to a face-off.

However, the face-off spawned an allegation that the Senate was exacting vengeance on Ali because the Customs had seized Saraki’s SUV, an allegation which is being investigated by the Senators.

According to Akindele, the car dealer, the vehicle was purchased from Hizmark Inc - a car-dealing company based in the US.

He said the vehicle was delivered to him in Lagos in September 2015, but that it was impounded in January 2017 while it was being conveyed to Abuja. "Sometime in 2014, I engaged the services of Hizmark Inc, a company registered in the United States of America to purchase two armoured Range Rover sport utility vehicle (the ‘cars’) and deliver them to me in Lagos," he said in his affidavit.

"I received an invoice from Hizmark Inc with details of all the expenses to be incurred for purchasing and delivering the cars to me in Lagos and subsequently made payments towards the purchase of the cars and expenses to be incurred.

"Hizmark Inc informed me that the cars had been shipped and introduced me to one Mr Latif Olajide, a licensed and registered clearing agent in Nigeria in August 2015, whom it said would be responsible for paying all the applicable duties, clearing the cars at Tin Can Island Port, Lagos and delivering them to me. A National Assembly officer wrote to Customs claiming the car belongs to the "convoy of the senate

"Mr Olajide cleared the cars and delivered them to me sometime in September 2015. Subsequently, I sold one of the cars to the Nigeria National Assembly in January 2016.

"On 13 January 2017, I received a phone call from a representative of the Nigeria national Assembly who informed me that the Nigeria Customs Service had impounded the car I sold to them on the grounds that the documents used in clearing the cars were forged.

"I had no knowledge that the documents used in clearing the cars were forged before I sold the car to the National Assembly, and I did not authorise any person including Mr Olajide to forge the documents required to clear the cars."

Recall that Saraki has denied his involvement in the importation of the vehicle through a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Yusuph Olaniyonu on Tuesday.