The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Center), which is a non-governmental organisation and non-partisan human rights and development league, has asked the United State Dept. of Justice in Washington DC, to investigate an alleged ghost worker scam by the wife of an aide to the Senate President, Mr. Bamikole Omishore.

In a petition sent to the US Department and signed by HEDA’s chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, the network said it has attached necessary documents to the petition, urging the US to carry out an investigation of fraud and money laundering into the above-mentioned case.

The petition reads: “According to the PUNCH report of April 22, 2018, it was reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has begun “taking necessary action” on a petition against Mr. Bamikole Omishore, the Special Adviser on International Relations to Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his wife, Abiola Aiyegbayo-Omishore, over an alleged ghost worker scam.

“Documents submitted to the EFCC showed that Omishore, who has been working with Senator Saraki since 2015, allegedly listed his wife as a grade level, 12 employees of the National Assembly, though she is confirmed to be a nurse in the United States. The petition, signed by Abba El-Mustapha on behalf of Youths United against Corruption in Nigeria, claimed that Omishore’s wife had been collecting salaries to the tune of N150,000 for nearly three years through her Guaranty Trust Bank account 0147896921 with the name ‘Abiola Aiyegbayo’.

“Documents made available toSUNDAYPUNCH showed that most of the salary payments were made on the same day thereby arousing suspicion. For example, the salaries for January, with file number S0723 and February 2017 also with file number S0723, were paid on April 10, 2017. The petition reads in part: “Documents made available by a whistle-blower showed that Mr. Bamikole Omishore, one of the aides to Senate President Bukola Saraki, has made millions of Naira through the complex but criminal scheme.

“Omishore registered his US-based wife, Abiola Omishore, on the payroll of the National Assembly, using her maiden name, Abiola Joy Aiyegbayo. Her social media accounts and even posts by her husband proved that she is not based in Nigeria.” The petitioner was said to have further alleged that Omishore’s wife had an identity card showing she was an employee of the National Assembly, while all her profiles online never reflected that she had worked with the Assembly.”

It noted further: “On this account, HEDA is calling on you to carry out an investigation of fraud and money laundering into the above mentioned against Mr. Omishore and Mrs. Abiola Aiyegbayo-Omishore. It is important to investigate into how Mrs. Abiola Omishore is able to maintain full employment in two different countries and draws monthly salaries in both countries.”