The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday sealed
off some properties allegedly belonging to the immediate past
Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, in Ado Ekiti, the state
capital.
The sealed properties were marked with red ink and had written
on them: “EFCC under investigation KEEP OFF ABJ-HQ FAFI.”
The buildings include a block of two-storey commercial complex
located opposite the Ekiti State Local Government Service
Commission; the NTS Event Hall and Hotel, Fajuyi; Our Peoples
104.1FM, Fajuyi; and a building beside Spotless Hotel, GRA, Ado
Ekiti.
Others are a twin-building behind the Government House at the
GRA; a two-storey commercial building at the Okesa Market; and a
petrol filling station, whose land the Muslim community had on
Sunday alleged was taken away from them.
The sealed buildings marked by the EFCC were not less than
12.
The trial of Fayose for alleged theft and money laundering began
at a Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday.
The EFCC alleged that the former governor benefited to the tune
of N2.99bn from the arms fund allotted to the office of the former
National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).
The former governor was accused of collecting the amount to
finance his re-election as governor in 2014.
The Station Manager of Our Peoples 104.1FM, Layi Oyawa, who
noted that the station was not sealed but placed under
investigation, said the organisation was being run by Ejemu Nigeria
Limited.
“You can see, we are on air. The EFCC came here this morning
that this place was under investigation. They are free to
investigate,” he stated.
But Fayose accused the EFCC of going about sealing houses
belonging to innocent people in the state under the guise that they
were linked to him.
The former governor, in a statement by his media aide, Lere
Olayinka, stated that he was informing the public ahead of the
EFCC’s usual blackmail and media trial.
The statement read in part, “Just being informed that operatives
of the EFCC, in collaboration with the All Progressives Congress
government in Ekiti State, are going about sealing houses of
innocent people in the state under the guise that the houses are
linked to me.
“This is another wild goose chase and the usual media campaign
against my person. It is only in our country that an
anti-corruption agency will first go about sealing houses before
determining the ownership, which can be done so easily by visiting
relevant agencies.
“I am therefore informing the public ahead of their usual
blackmail and media trial. None of the properties in question is
owned by me and the records are there for anyone that is interested
to see.
“The EFCC is advised to stop going about looking for ways to
malign my person just because of their hatred as a result of my
uncompromising stand on national issues. Even if the commission is
being pressured from ‘above’ to persecute Fayose at all cost, it
should at least, do its job diligently to save itself from
persistent embarrassment.”
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