The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Ekiti chapter, has commended the Ekiti State House of Assembly for exhibiting the bravery to summon former Governor Ayodele Fayose over alleged fraud perpetrated in some councils under his watch.
The political organisation said the summon had confirmed that Governor Kayode Fayemi and the entire gamut of governance in Ekiti had keyed into the anti graft war being waged against corrupt Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The CNPP Chairman, Ekiti chapter, Deacon Olu Akomolafe, who spoke in a statement in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, said with this action, the Assembly had demonstrated that there was no sacred cows in the war against plundering of the public funds.
Akomolafe, howoever, added that it was wrong for ex-Governor Fayose to have invaded the assembly 24 hours after the summon without getting formal invitation from the lawkakers.
He said the action could be aptly described as a desperate attempt to ambush the House and create the impression that the legislators were out to humiliate him.
The CNPP boss said: “CNPP as a body that relishes the anti graft war of President Buhari commends the House for rising above primordial sentiment and pettiness and took the bulls by the horns by standing its ground to call former governor Fayose to question.
“Corruption in the facet of misapproptiation of public funds and amasssing of ill gotten wealth remain the main challenges of the Nigerian society. And any step taken to curb the unbridled penchant for materialism by our leaders must be commended.
“As much as we are not doing media trial for the former Governor, we advise him to act as true statesman by subjecting himself to scrutiny and resist the temptation of reducing the exercise to political tool”.
CNPP particularly lampooned the governor for allegedly politicising the issue through his unscheduled visit to the Assembly complex on Friday without proper invitation by the House Committee on Public Accounts.
“CNPP viewed the action as a way of defaming the integrity of the assembly rather than the respect for the legislature the visit was portrayed to represent as claimed by for governor.
“The parliament has a way of doing things. They have their tradition which has been that when you are summoned, they will write formally to you and agree on a date. Why then did former governor Fayose stormed the house barely 24 hours after he was invited? This was smacked of suspicion and an attempt to politicise the whole exercise,” he said.
CNPP appealed to the lawmakers to reamain resolute and pursue the investigation with zeal and loyalty to the constitution, rather than pandering to the intrigues of political settlement.
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