The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has apologised to the Ministry of Works and Housing for petitioning the Senate over the rehabilitation of the Ife-Ifewara Road in Osun State.
It will be recalled that the church had claimed that the ministry paid a contractor for a road project it undertook.
However, in a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Communications to the Minister of Works and Housing, Hakeem Bello, the ministry revealed that the church apologised after it was discovered that the claim it made on the road lacks factual proof.
According to Bello, the apology was tendered at a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
“In the petition dated 24th March, 2021, Secretary to the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Niyi Adebanjo, claimed that the church, after carrying out the rehabilitation of the road, learnt that the company, which was awarded the contract since 2010 and had abandoned the work for over six years, had been paid by the ministry for work praying that the money be retrieved from the company,” the statement read.
Fashola had told the Senate Committee where he appeared before it, that there was no proof to support the position of the petitioner that an unjust claim was made by the contractor or paid by the Ministry between 2016 and 2019, the statement, further revealed.
Fashola also explained that the road in question was a state road, adding that the contract for its rehabilitation was awarded by the Federal Government in 2010 as a ‘Parliamentary Constituency Project’ and domiciled in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, hence the intervention by the Ministry’.
In his response, the petitioner, Pastor Adebanjo expressed ‘deep regrets’ for taking the matter to the Senate.
He said he did not mean to embarrass the minister or his Ministry but in the spirit of fighting corruption by ensuring that the money paid to the contractor was retrieved and paid to the coffers of the federal government.
Adebanjo said: “For the fact that the Ministry of Works deserves an apology and because the whole world is listening to us, I tender that apology unreservedly before this Senate Committee.”
