Ekiti sues Fayemi, ex-commissioner over N4.9bn state fund

Agency ReporterJanuary 29, 2018

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The Ekiti State Government has filed a 19-count charge of corruption against a former governor of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and his finance commissioner, Mr Dapo Kolawole.

The court action came less than two weeks after the government released a white paper on the report of the Justice Silas Oyewole-led Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the finances of the state during the administration of the former governor, now Minister of Mines and Steel Development.

The 19-count charge was filed before the State High Court, Ado Ekiti on Friday, January 26, 2018, according to court papers obtained by Daily Trust yesterday.

Fayemi and the former commissioner were accused of misappropriating N4.9 billion being the proceeds of Ekiti State Bond for the N20 billion earmarked in the bond prospectus for various projects in the state that were either not done or partly done.

Count 12 of the charge, which borders on conspiracy to steal, reads: “That you Dr John Kayode Fayemi and Mr Vincent Dapo Kolawole, while holding the offices of the Executive Governor of Ekiti State of Nigeria and Commissioner for Finance respectively, sometime between 2011 and 2014, conspired to steal the sum of N2.75 billion, being the sum of money earmarked in the bond prospectus titled; ‘Ekiti State Government of Nigeria, Offer for Subscription of N20 billion.. and released for the construction of an ultra-modern market in Ekiti State, which you never built; and thereby committed an offence.”

Responding yesterday, Fayemi, in a statement by his media aide, Yinka Oyebode, said the Ekti State Government’s action was further demonstration to tarnish Dr Fayemi’s public service record.

He said, “The government out of desperation refused to release the CTC of the report of the panel to Fayemi’s counsel more than a month after he has sent in a written application for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the report. The lawyer asked for the CTC of the report as part of the documents he needed for a suit he has filed challenging the outcome of the panel. Now, the same government that has refused to release the report is going to court based on the same report. Can you see mischief, double standard and deliberate which-hunting?”