Beware of keeping secrets,because surely,what's done in the dark will eventually come to the light. It's better to be honest and confess, rather than hide from the truth." The reality of these words of D. Smith should now be dawning on the stupendously rich Lagos Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Folarin Coker (aka Folly Coker),after he was reportedly linked to choice properties worth over N476million in Fulham, UK. Urban Life magazine gathered that, with this damning allegation, his principal, the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, may be considering relieving him of his job as commissioner in order not to stain his highly-commended government with the alleged corrupt antecedents. Following a published report by the UK Guardian, Folly Coker was reported to be one of the famous Nigerians whose anonymous ownership of different properties in London have been exposed by the massive leak of the Panama Law firm on offshore companies. The former Head of Central Business District during former Governor Babatunde Fashola’s tenure, reportedly owns posh Town Houses worth 1.65million pounds in Kensington and Chelsea, but shown as belonging to BVI, a company, whose sole shareholder is reportedly believed to be Folly Coker. The report further noted that Coker’s lawyer said he had multiple sources of income and had always declared his interest in Satori Holdings to the Nigerian authorities. The UK Guardian also reports that the offshore companies and trusts can also enable investors to keep assets hidden, while potentially reducing capital gains and inheritance tax or stamp duty in a manner not available to ordinary home owners Meanwhile, back home, Folly is known to own Browns’ Café, with branches inside Ikeja, GRA and another in Victoria Island, La Casa Private Beach House Club, Ilashe. The circumstances surrounding Folly Coker’s stinking riches have however been traced to certain backing and soft landing he enjoys from a powerful force in Lagos. Many say his relationship with the APC National, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that spans so many years, may have given him the advantage to acquire such humongous wealth. For instance, he was the Personal Assistant to Tinubu in his days as Governor of the state. Fondly called Folly, this man, just in his 50s, has operated at the very top level of Lagos State Government since Tinubu took over office. He has held so many plum positions in the state in the past 17 years; from Deputy Chief of Staff to Head, Number Plate Producing Company to Commissioner of Tourism. The luck he has, according to insiders, is his closeness to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And so, if not for Guardian UK that published his London house ownership and some damning facts, we would have been in the dark, said an Alausa inside source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Apart from La Casa and Robert's Café, no one knows of any of his visible businesses, yet he could afford a £1.65m house in upscale Chelsea, which he got through a British Virgin Islands Shell Company. And the talk in town now is that he may actually have been fronting for Asiwaju, though this is unsubstantiated. What has however been amazing or rather demoralizing to many, is the unusual quietness in the highest quarters of authority to these very allegedly corrupt acquisitions by Folly, who still continues in office with brazen confidence and unperturbed, even with the ultra gravity of the allegations that have been thrown in his face. Some are even saying that, as a super Tinubu boy and senior foot-soldier, there is little or nothing the Governor can do for him, even if he tries as much to do anything, in relation to the UK Guardian report on Folly Coker. There is a score of super Tinubu boys in Ambode’s cabinet whom he dares not touch, except he wants to bite the fingers that had fed him, said another inside source at Alausa. Folly Coker was to exhibit this trait days back, when this magazine visited him in his office to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of this Uk Guardian report. The commissioner was so boastful and arrogant to the extent that he alluded to the fact that where was the reporter 17 years ago when he has been in government and has continued to be without any break. He said, if for that long he has continued to be appointed into one office or the other without being indicted of any misdemeanor or illegal financial dealing, he sees no reason why such a baseless report should move him any bit. He went on to brag that, if the EFCC, for all he cares had found any propriety in the report, they would have since come for him or at best have invited him for questioning, or what are we talking about here, he bragged. Our people say, a motherless child does not get himself injured at the back, may be this is what is giving our commissioner the effrontery to flagrantly be behaving as if there is no single atom of fact in the report against him by the UK Guardian report, which is one of the leading tabloids in the UK. One thing we however know for a knowing, is that the sitting governor, who does not brook any nonsense, is allegedly contemplating firing Folly Coker, before people begin to accuse him (Ambode) of complicity in the massive gale of corruption in the Panama debacle. Even as rumour are rife in Alausa, the seat of Lagos State Government about Folly Coker’s imminent sack from office, he had continued to tell anyone who cares to listen that he remains in the good books of the Governor, and there is no shaking for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment