Olusola Fabiyi, kamarudeen ogundele, Eniola Akinkuotu and Ade Adesomoju
The office of the Inspector General of
Police as received not less than 102 petitions against the Governor of
Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, investigations by one of our
correspondents have revealed.
The petitions were said to have been
written by those alleged to have either been harassed, beaten or
detained before, during, and after the last governorship election in the
state.
It was gathered that the police is set
to invite the governor’s loyalists who were either in the employment of
the state or in other positions when they partook in the acts stated in
the petitions.
A special police team, led by one CSP Ndah, was said to have led the investigating team that investigated some of the cases.
During the tenure of the last Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, the police was set to arrest some
of the governor’s aides, but Fayose was said to have raised the alarm,
alleging that the police were coming to raid the state and his personal
house.
The majority of the petitions were said to have originated from the members of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
The chairman of the APC in the state,
Mr. Jide Awe, one of our correspondents learnt, was said to have
coordinated the writing of the petitions.
It was also gathered that the writers of
the petitions were spread across the 16 local government areas of the
state. Among those said to have written the petitions were one Dapo
Kolawole from Ijero Local Government Area and Jide Ajayi from Irepodun
Ifelodun Local Government Area, among others.
A highly-placed police source said that
the time was ripe for the police to look at the petitions again
following the conclusion of the army’s inquiry into roles played by its
officers and men during the election.
“The police have over 102 petitions
against the governor which we are investigating. Soon, we will start
inviting the suspects for interrogation,” the senior police officer
said.
He added, “We have the petitions already
worked on by a senior police officer, who is retired now, but we are
looking at them again so that it doesn’t look as if we are sweeping
anything under the carpet.”
It was also gathered that divisional
police officers who served in the state during the election and were
used to illegally detain innocent voters had volunteered information to
their superiors.
The state Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Taiwo Olatunbosun, told SUNDAY PUNCH,
that he was aware of the petitions. Olatubosun said the party had
written another petition against the governor over attacks on its
members by thugs loyal to the PDP.
He said, “In fact, we wrote another
petition two days ago to the DSS and the police based on the attack on
our members. Our properties at various times had been destroyed by PDP
thugs. All these allegations, among others should be investigated.”
The state chairman of the Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Tunji Ogunlola, also said he was aware
of petitions against the governor bordering on intimidation and
harassment of the opposition by some of his aides.
He said apart from the police, he was
aware of petitions by the APC to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission over the claims of the governor on monthly wages of workers
in the state.
He said, “It is true there are countless
allegations against him. He should defend all the allegations against
him in the petitions.”
The state chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, Mr. Gboyega Oguntuase, however, said no true son of
Ekiti would write a petition against a performing governor.
He said if truly there were petitions against the governor, it could only come from “his enemies in the APC.”
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary,
Mr. Idowu Adelusi, declined to make any comment when called on phone by
one of our correspondents on Saturday evening.
Adelusi said he would only react if he was aware of the petitions.
“I am not reacting. I am not saying
anything because I have not seen anything at all. I am educated and by
the virtue of my training you have to see what you are reacting to,”
Adelusi said.
It will be recalled that the APC in
February this year for the third time petitioned the Minister of Justice
and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), asking
him to prosecute all indicted people in the June 21 Ekiti governorship
election rigging scandal.
The party had written two petitions dated February 13, 2015 and November 23, 2015 on the same subject matter.
The party in another petition asked the
then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to prosecute Fayose;
former Ekiti State Mopol Commander, Gabriel Selekere; and an Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Bala Nasarawa for the alleged criminal
manipulation of the governorship election.
Meanwhile, the EFCCC which had launched a search for Fayose’s houses is set to approach the court to seize the buildings.
The properties are those Fayose was said to have allegedly acquired after he became governor on October 16, 2014.
Already, it was gathered that the
investigators had identified six of the properties with purchasing
papers that were skilfully prepared to deceive security agencies.
Our correspondent gathered that the
purchasing papers were yet to be changed, but that those who sold the
properties had confided in the EFCC who the real owner of the houses
was.
The investigators are working on the
theory that the governor might have used his detained bosom friend,
Abiodun Agbele, as a front among others.
A source in the EFCC said, “We are
closing in on the governor. Immunity does not stop us from investigating
any sitting governor or president. And we have no apology to offer for
doing our duty.”
Two of the governor’s friends were
reportedly interrogated on the properties. They included one Abbey, who
was said to have been brought to Abuja from Lagos on Friday.
He was said to have been confronted with
the evidence on the various lodgements he allegedly made to banks in
the name of the governor.
Another friend of the governor known as
Fatai, was said to have allegedly aided the governor in securing his
deposits in the bank. He was also said to be “in the know of how the
properties were bought.”
It was gathered that the houses would be
temporarily seized until the proxies whose names appear on the papers
of some of the houses were “able to convince investigators whether the
source of the funds used in purchasing the houses were clean.”
The commission was said to have relied on reports given to it by former and current associates of the governor.
Chief among the whistleblowers, one of
our correspondents learnt, is a former Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party in the state, Dr. Tope Aluko.
Aluko told our correspondent that it was
true he was invited by the anti-graft agency, adding that the
allegations he made against the governor concerning the funding of his
campaign were true.
In a prepared statement he gave to our
correspondent, Aluko said, “Ayo Fayose was sworn in on October 16,
2015. By January 30, 2015, he made a cash deposit of N145m into
De-Private account.
“On on April 18, 2015, he paid cash of
N70m to the same account. The N300m deposit paid into account no
9013074033 in April in cash by Abey in Fayose’s name can’t be from the
Zenith Bank, but from the Office of the National Security Adviser/Dasuki
for presidential damaging and presidential election.
“These funds were used to purchase
choice properties in Abuja, Lagos and Dubai through other banks in Ekiti
which the EFCC is now working on.
“Ayo Fayose is not ignorant of Money
Laundering Act, although he’s relying on his immunity. He should know
that any cash payment above N9m for corporate and N5m for individuals is
an offence and should be reported to the EFCC.
“The ones discovered or uncovered by the EFCC are different from that of the N2.1bn, $2m and $35m from this same source.”
EFCC gets court order to hold Agbele
Meanwhile, a Lagos State Magistrate’s court has granted the EFCC permission to continue to detain Agbele.
It was learnt that the court granted the
EFCC a remand order to hold the suspect for two weeks as investigations
into the N4.7bn allegedly transferred from the account of the Office of
the National Security Adviser continued.
The remand order is, however, renewable
after two weeks, which implies that the commission can still detain
Agbele for over two weeks depending on the outcome of investigations.
Agbele, it was learnt, allegedly helped Fayose to handle over N1.219bn during the Ekiti State governorship election in 2014.
The money was said to have been part of
the N4.7bn that was allegedly siphoned from the imprest account of the
Office of the National Security Adviser and deposited into the bank
account of a company belonging to the sons of a former Minister of State
for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
The EFCC had alleged that Obanikoro
conveyed about N1.219bn on an aircraft and handed it over to Agbele for
onward delivery to Zenith Bank.
Agbele was said to have collected the
money on behalf of Fayose and paid the money into the account of Fayose
who was the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party at
the time.
In his reaction, Fayose admitted that
Agbele was a trusted friend who paid money into his account. He,
however, maintained that the money came from the management of Zenith
Bank and private donations.
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