The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of allegedly spending the state’s money to prosecute his legal battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement in Ado-Ekiti that the party was in possession of fact that the N22m spent to charter airplane that conveyed his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome from Lagos to Akure airport was allegedly taken from the state’s treasury.
EFCC had frozen the governor’s account about a month ago over alleged fraudulent diversion of arms cash from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, to finance Fayose’s election.
About N1.21b of the cash was allegedly traced to the governor’s accounts and those of his friends and family, including Abiodun Agbele.
Fayose denied collecting any amount from Dasuki for his election, claiming that his election was financed by Zenith Bank, which has since denied the charge.
EFCC subsequently froze Fayose’s accounts, forcing him to take the anti-graft agency to court for acting illegally in freezing his accounts.
But APC has kicked against the governor for allegedly drawing from the state finances to hire a lawyer to prosecute the case in court.
Olatunbosun alleged that Fayose’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, had flown from Lagos to Akure, Ondo State capital, twice since the beginning of the case, all at the expense of the state government.
“We gathered from a reliable source that a warrant for the payment of N22 million being the cost of chartered aircraft that flew Ozekhome twice from Lagos to Akure was issued and the money released almost immediately by the office of the Accountant General.
“The N22 million is outside of the legal fee, which has been reportedly paid to Ozekhome by the state government, to pursue a personal matter for the governor whose private account was frozen.
“Fayose is fond of using state funds for his personal affairs as it is the case with his latest matter with the EFCC, the same way he has been spending state’s money on adverts in several newspapers to abuse President Muhammadu Buhari,” Olatunbosun explained.
He accused Fayose of appropriating the state’s funds as his personal money, citing IGR cash balances allegedly kept in secret accounts that were only known to the governor.
“Fayose has taken corrupt practices in government to a ridiculous height by renting out his personal house in Abuja to the State Government to be used as Abuja Government House for eight years at N50 million per annum, even though Ekiti State Government has a befitting guest house and hotel called the NANET SUITES in the Federal capital.
“Fayose and his counsel should be reminded that it is a financial crime to use state funds for personal matters and we wish to invite the EFCC to quiz the state Accountant General and the Cabinet Office over this abuse of office and flagrant violation of financial regulations,” he concluded.
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