The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has set up a special team to interrogate Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State next week, The PUNCH can confirm.
Fayose, who has been governor since October 16, 2014, will lose his immunity at exactly 11.59pm on October 15, 2018, thereby giving the EFCC the constitutional right to arrest, detain and prosecute him.
The governor is expected to report at the EFCC head office in Abuja to meet with the commission’s Director of Operations, Umar Mohammed, after which he will be grilled by a team of operatives.
Fayose is under investigation for allegedly receiving over N1.2bn from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), through a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.
The money was allegedly handed over to Fayose during the build-up to the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State.
Fayose’s aide, Abiodun Agbele, and others had been arraigned by the EFCC but Fayose was excluded because of his immunity.
A source within the EFCC said, “We are expecting Fayose to show up at our office next week. He has nowhere to run to since he is under security watch and cannot leave the country through any land border, seaport or airport.
“We have also set up a special team of investigators that will interrogate him immediately after the expiration of his tenure.”
The governor is expected to be arraigned after investigations.
Apart from the alleged N1.2bn fraud, Fayose is also under probe for alleged contract fraud.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on Tuesday, a spokesman for Fayose, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said his principal was ready for the EFCC.
Adelusi noted that the governor had written a letter to the EFCC indicating his readiness to appear before the commission next week.
He said, “Governor Fayose is an honourable man. He will not run away. He has already stated that he will make himself available next Monday once his tenure expires. He made this clear in a letter recently. Even when he was not under immunity, the governor honoured the EFCC invitations.
“The EFCC is not a court of law and cannot declare a person guilty. The governor will be available next week, no doubt.”
Meanwhile, Fayose has filed a N20bn suit against the EFCC for placing him on watch list and directing security agencies to arrest him, if he attempts to travel out of the country.
He said the directive against him despite being a sitting governor breached his constitutional immunity and exposed him to public opium and ridicule.
Fayose had in a September 3, 2018 letter by his counsel, Obafemi Adewale, given the EFCC 72 hours to withdraw the request/directive to security agencies and publish a written apology in three national newspapers and the social media.
Source: The Punch
