The
controversial governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has been accused
by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of diverting large sums
of money.
Ayodele Fayose
Nigeria's foremost anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State of
diverting N680m from the state’s coffers to a private fixed deposit
account, which was yielding N6m interest every month.
According to Punch Metro, the N680m was alleged to have been part
of the bailouts paid to the state government by the Federal Government
for the payment of salary and pension arrears, according to the EFCC’s
preliminary investigation into the matter.
The anti-graft agency also asked the state’s Commissioner for
Finance, Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant-General, Yemisi Owolabi, to
report back to the commission’s head office in Abuja next week.
Owolabi and Ojo had spent about 12 days in the custody of the
anti-graft agency after allegedly refusing to honour its invitation in
the past. They were arrested for their alleged roles in the diversion of
the bailout .
According to the anti-graft agency, there is a reason to believe that the people of Ekiti State have been short-changed.
The report states, “A total of N680m was diverted on January
25, 2016. The funds, comprising N200m from the Ekiti State Local
Government salary account, N300m from the Ekiti State Pension Account
and N180m from the Ekiti State FAAC Account, were first credited into
the Consolidated Revenue Account in Zenith Bank on January 25, 2016, and
later transferred on the same day into an account called – 2015 MDG-CGS
state project – domiciled in Zenith Bank.
“Analysis of the bank statement revealed that the money was
later placed in a fixed deposit, where it was yielding a monthly
interest of about N6m at a time pensioners and workers in Ekiti State
were owed months of unpaid entitlements.”
It was learnt that investigators were going through several
documents to uncover the beneficiaries of the monthly interest on the
fixed deposit.
The report concluded, “The detained Ekiti State Commissioner
for Finance and its Accountant-General committed to assisting the
commission with relevant documents before they were granted
administrative bail and ordered to report back in two weeks.”
It was learnt that in the course of investigating alleged
misapplication of the bailouts by the Fayose-led administration,
especially the N1.7bn contract awarded to a Lebanese company, which
later moved part of the money to allegedly purchase properties for
Governor Fayose, investigators stumbled on evidence of diversion of
funds meant for payment of state and local government employees and
pensioners in Ekiti State.
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