[size=18pt]Speaker of Lagos state house of Assembly
[/size]

Weeks of further investigations into the records of more members of the assembly has however thrown up a bigger scandal with a discovery that the speaker of the House, Hon(?) Ikuforiji is an ex-convict, having been convicted twice in the USA at first in 2001 and later in 2005. Records available to iReports-ng showed that Ikuforiji was first convicted in 2001 after his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol on April 22, 2001 in Wake county, North Carolina. His court record with case number 2001CR040190 shows that his residence then was 2116 Saturn street, Raleigh, NC 27603.

The Lagos House speaker progressed in his record of crime when in 2005 he was convicted again for a $22,731.00 credit card fraud he had committed in 2003. The Hennepin county district court records show that Ikuforiji as at the time he committed the crime lived at 9112 Yates Bay, Minneapolis MN55443. He was said to have duped the Columbia Credit Service Inc which reported him to law enforcement agents over the $22,731.00 fraud. He had lived with one Omolara Cole as his wife and Abdul as their son before their marriage was dissolved on August 30, 1999.He was eventually convicted on August 3rd, 2005 in case number 27-CV-05-009568.

Ikuforiji whose records in the USA showed that he was born on August 15, 1958 however had a different story to tell about his life record to the institutions he claimed he attended in Romania. While in one of his school files in Romania, he claimed to have been born 0n August 24, 1954, yet in another Romanian school record, he claimed he was born on August 24, 1956. As if that was not enough, Ikuforiji lied under oath in his INEC form CF001 submitted to the electoral body while contesting for the Epe constituency 1 seat in the Lagos House of assemby in 2003 that he never had a criminal record before. He equally gave a different version of his date of birth as August 24, 1958, bringing to four the dates of birth in the speaker’s records in USA, Romania and Nigeria.

Ikuforiji only tacitly admitted his criminal record in the US when he filled in his INEC form already obtained by iReports-ng that he once worked at Wake Tech NC, USA between 2001 and 2003 when he committed the two crimes for which he was convicted twice. iReports-ng will bring you more exclusive reports on the scandal ridden Lagos House of Assembly in subsequent reports.

http://ireports-ng.com/2010/07/03/lagos-house-of-crooks-speaker-an-ex-convict-2-others-in-forgery-mess/

Please name more of them
These people live a life of crime outside the shores of Nigeria and go on to become big names in Nigeria.
No wonder he is currently facing a $7 b theft charge with the EFCC
A leopard never changes it's spots

That is only regarded as a crime outside Nigeria. Here in Naija, big men aren't tag such names as criminals or ex convict. He is a honourable man and respectable man here and who may even be awarded with honours.
As per your question,i no kw dem o ...

This was some old news,dunno if he is still at the post.
Can anyone imagine a man who spent 18 long months in a British prison returns to Nigeria to be appointed the tax collectors general of Edo State?
Only in Nigeria



Recently, Oshiomole shocked many Nigerians by joining three other well known profligate governors on a trip to Harvard University, a trip that has now turned into a scandal. The subsequent announcement of an MOU between the "Governors Forum" and Harvard University has now been repudiated by the University, leaving Oshiomole exposed, and igniting a firestorm of acerbic comments by Nigerians at home and abroad. Many Nigerians were shocked because they expected wiser judgment from the governor who rode into power on the promise of good governance, commonsense, and fiscal responsibility. 

Even as Oshiomole offered a tepid explanation of his Harvard University fiasco, people are not impressed as he has ignited another firestorm by [size=[size=18pt]appointing Austin Atakpu-Jima to be the "Tax-Collector General" for Edo State. By this appointment, the governor is basically handing over the purse strings of Edo state to a man who once spent 18 months in England’s notorious Canterbury jail and was described by a British court as “dishonest” and “incompetent.”

It has emerged that Austin Atakpu-Jima practiced law in England without the requisite license. [/size]

Along the way, he threw into trouble and embarrassment, almost everyone who associated with him through an English law firm, Austin Sheik and Co. Among those who ended up before the Disciplinary Committee of the British Law Society on account of their innocent association with Austin Atakpu-Jima were Ned Nwoko, formerly of Nigeria’s House of Representatives and Isabella Iyama Onibudo, an England based duly licensed lawyer of Nigerian descent.

While Ned Nwoko escaped severe sanctions from the British Law Society, Isabella, who found herself manipulated into a relationship with the married ex-convict, found her law licence to practice suspended for two years by the British regulatory authorities. Even when she got it back, it was stringent supervisory conditions established on her practice. It is not known if Austin Atakpu-Jima has repaid the 8,000.00 pounds he borrowed from Isabella while their extra-marital relationship lasted. 

But perhaps Governor Oshiomole was unaware of Austin Atakpu-Jima’s criminal past. If so, that is even worse, because it unveils a Chief Executive who promised the highest standards but who is not even conducting a comprehensive background check before making key appointments, including one to whom he is handing the reins of an entire state’s tax administration. This is the least taxpayers expect from Oshiomole, who must now work harder to rebuild the trust the Edo State people reposed in him.

But now that Oshiomole has made the grievous error of appointing Atakpu-Jima, it remains to be seen if the former labour leader is courageous enough to correct it by immediately relieving the crooked lawyer of the post, particularly if he wants to persuade the people of Edo State that it is not only legal, but wise, to pay their taxes—and to believe “Comrade Governor.”

From Sahara reporters