He said the president must start the corruption fight from his party and immediate aides since charity begins from home.
“EFCC opinions remain their opinions and if they are so sure of whatever information they have, they should go to court and stop subjecting Nigerians to media trial, and no amount of media trial from the same elements that orchestrated my removal in 2006 can erode my popularity among Ekiti people,” the governor said in a statement Wednesday. He said any property that may be linked to him or his company was bought legitimately and his properties were duly declared in his assets declaration form and sources of such funds were not illicit.
In the release signed by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said his election was funded by Zenith Bank as well as donations from friends and associates, adding that; “As a promising candidate of my party, I cannot stop Nigerians from supporting my election like every other candidates of other political, including President Buhari”.
He said since the money he got for his election was from legitimate sources and not from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as being concocted, how the money was spent remained his own business and not that of anyone.
Premium Times reports that the governor also debunked the allegation by the EFCC that he received bribe from any contractor in Ekiti; saying: “if they have anything against me, they should keep their gun powder dry.
“Because in 2006 when they took me to court, their allegations crumbled like pack of cards because court decisions are founded on facts and law, and not on media trial as currently being done by the EFCC as teleguided by the APC in their desperation to set the people against me knowing fully that they are not on ground.”
He said: “Having failed to buy the conscience of Ekiti House of Assembly members, the APC people have become increasingly afraid of 2018 and that the agencies of the Federal Government should know that no matter how hard they try, Ekiti electorate will not be deceived by their blackmail and media trial.
Governor Fayose said, “The EFCC should be told in clear terms that this is 2016 and not 2006 when impeachment notices against governors were signed on the table of EFCC operatives. Those who are teleguiding the EFCC now should also be reminded that they did more than what they are doing now in 2006, yet I was overwhelmingly voted for by the Ekiti people eight years after the orchestrated impeachment which the Supreme Court declared illegal.”
The governor asked; “Should Nigerians now conclude that EFCC is an appendage of APC? Is the EFCC for investigation of corrupt practices among all Nigerians or members of opposition parties alone?”
The governor said: “As at today, I have not been accused of stealing a dime from Ekiti treasury. EFCC has not also said that Ekiti money was stolen and that my election was funded with Ekiti State money.”
Accusing the EFCC of carrying out the APC agenda to force him out of office as was done in 2006, the governor said: “It is sad that some politicians from Ekiti State now resume and close in EFCC offices in Lagos and Abuja and we wonder whether those politicians have now taken over the job of EFCC.”
He said he will continue to speak his mind on issues affecting Nigerians and can never be cowed, saying: “Nigerians are suffering. States can no longer pay workers salary, a litre of kerosene is now N220, a bag of rice is now N20,000 and some people will sit in Presidential Villa and expect that all of us should keep silent? That’s not possible!
“No amount of media trial by agents of the Buhari-led APC government will make me to stop baring my mind on the cluelessness of the Federal Government.”
In the same vein, Soji Adagunodo, the factional chairman of the Osun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said that the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war is to suppress the opposition.
According to The Punch, the Osun state PDP chairman said the anti-graft war which had been marred by gross impunity and selectivity is boosting the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2019 general election.
Adagunodo, in a statement on Monday, July 4, stressed that the Buhari government was using the anti-graft war to make the PDP irrelevant.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed the full details of its fraud case against Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayose.
Details of the case is contained in an affidavit filed by the anti-graft commission showing how N1.21 billion out of N2.26 billion was paid to the account of Slyvan Mcnamara Limited.
The company is allegedly linked to the sons of the immediate past minister of state for defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, by the Office of the National Security Adviser during the last administration, was traced to Fayose’s accounts with a new generation bank, Premium Times reports.
According to reports, the affidavit, which detailed how the governor received kickbacks from Ekiti contractors, was filed in response to a suit instituted by the governor at a Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, seeking an order directing the EFCC to unblock his accounts.
EFCC had frozen the governor’s account after it claimed the N1.21 billion was paid into the governor’s account for the prosecution of his election in 2014. An operative of the EFCC, Tosin Owobo, who deposed the written affidavit, told the court that Babajide, one of Obanikoro’s son was the principal signatory of Sylvan Mcnamara.
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