Management of Federal Medical Centre [FMC] in Owo local government area of Ondo State today denied having any connection with one Bar. Ayodele Owoka, who was recently arrested by the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] over alleged bribe attempt.
It will be recalled that the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren on Sunday issued a statement that one Mr. Owoka was arrested at the Commission’s office in Ikoyi, Lagos State while attempting to bribe a team of investigators following up the ongoing alleged fraudulent case against the FMC Medical Director, Abiodun Omotsho.
Uwujaren said the lawyer confessed that he was directed by the FMC boss to bribe the EFCC officials with some millions of Naira.
But, in a statement issued by the FMC Public Relations Officer [PRO], Mr. Yusuf Olarewaju, the FMC said the only solicitor known to the Medical Centre was one Barrister Taiwo Olukoyede, noting that Owoka’s name was strange to the organization.
The statement reads. “Our attention has been drawn to various reports on newspapers and internet linking the Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Dr. O.A. Omotoso to a bribery allegation involving one Barrister Ayodele Owoka with officials of the Economics and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Lagos over the investigation being carried out on the centre by the EFCC.
“We wish to state that the alleged linkage of the Medical Director with Barrister Owoka who is being investigated for attempting to bribe EFCC officials on behalf of the Medical Director is far from the truth. It is note-worthy to state that Barrister Owoka has never been a solicitor to the Medical Director on any matter.
“The Medical Director had engaged his own lawyer, named Taiwo Olukoyede since the commencement of the investigation and he has not disengaged him. All other officers involved in the investigation engaged their own lawyer since the investigation is on-going. There was no point of meeting between Barrister Owoka and the Medical Director.
“For clarity of purpose, the Medical Director was officially engaged in Abuja for Budget presentation to the National Assembly during the week the alleged bribery took place. The Medical Director knows nothing about the untoward conduct of bribery.
“Also, we wish to state that there was no truth in some newspapers publications that the Medical Director tried to evade arrest by EFCC officials when they came to the centre.
It should be noted that the day EFCC officials came to the centre for the verification of projects being investigated, there was a meeting of the Board of the Centre which the Medical Director attended after attending to the EFCC officials and there was no rancor involved. So the issue of Medical Director “jumping the fence” or “sneaking away quietly” as falsely reported did not arise”.
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