Legislative Corruption: Speaker by Day, Contractor by Night; How Bayelsa Lawmaker Abraham Ingobere Pocketed N490 Million Through Contract Racketeering

Secret Reporters

Corruption has eroded the Legislative arm of the Bayelsa state government, as the apex leader of the Bayelsa state House of Assembly has been found to be involved in contract fraud. The speaker of the Bayelsa state House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere, has drowned himself in the sea of corruption, as he was awarded a contract worth N490, 000,000, thereby violating the Code of Conduct for Public officers.

The Code of Conduct for Public Officers states; that “except where he is not employed on a full‐time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade; but nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming or participating in the management or running of any farm”.

The Violation:

SecretReporters going through the Bayelsa State Procurement website discovered that the Bayelsa State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure awarded a contract to Tikoro Marine Services Ltd, worth N490,000, for the construction of a concrete road from Buo-Ama to Sangana, Brass LGA, Bayelsa State, on 21st April 2021. The contract was funded from the 2019 Budget.

SecretReporters gathered that to Tikoro Marine Services Ltd was incorporated in Yenagoa Bayelsa, Nigeria, with registration Number 932849. It was registered on 28 January 2011, and its current status is unknown. The company’s office address is O. 1, Ogbodo – AMA, Sangana Town Brass L.G.A, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Among the key management personnel of the company is Abraham Ingobere, the Speaker of Bayelsa State Houses of Assembly, representing the Brass III constituency.

The state Ministry of Works and Infrastructure violated section 9 of the code of conduct for public officers involved with procurement, which states that; “A Public Officer shall decline in serving in a procurement process if any of the Bidders or Service Providers engaged in the procurement proceedings is related to him by blood, marriage or grant relationship or where the success of a particular Bidder or Service Provider in the proceedings will confer a pecuniary or other advantage on him,” by awarding a contract to Tikoro Marine Services Ltd, a company whose key management personnel is the Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly.