Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has promoted its vendetta against opponents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari, especially against him to the level that the anti-corruption agency is now carrying out investigations by ‘trial and error.’
In a statement signed by the Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said it was only in Nigeria that anti-corruption agency would first arrest suspect before looking for evidence for prosecution.
The statement read: “Today, the EFCC demonstrated that it has been lying against Fayose and other Nigerians all along by the failed attempt it made to seal off a property located on Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, that is being used as Guest House just because the governor used to lodge there.
“It was at the point of sealing off the property that the owner of the Guest House told the EFCC officials that he only leased the property for ten years from its owner, a former Chief of Defence Staff, who was also a one-time Minister of Defence.
“The EFCC operatives moved to the next building to the Guest House, which is the residence of the retired army general and were told by the general’s wife that the building being used as Guest House and the one next to it belonged to the General not Fayose.
“It is shocking that in its desperate bid to nail Fayose so as to satisfy their paymasters, EFCC is going about claiming that properties owned by other law-abiding Nigerians are owned by the governor and the result of this investigation by trial and error by the EFCC is the embarrassment it faced at Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja when its operatives went there to seal off a property belonging to a retired army general thinking that it belonged to the governor.
“That was the same way they told Nigerians that they discovered mansion in Asokoro, Abuja, owned by the governor. Unknown to the EFCC, the mansion being referred to is a property rented by the Ekiti State Government and being used as Governor’s Lodge.”
While insisting that whatever properties owned by the governor were acquired thorough legitimate means, the state government said. like every other Nigerians, the governor reserved the rights to own properties and can also receive money from people to fund his election.
