All is not well in the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as an attempt by the Chairman, Prof Francisca Aladejana to expose what she thought was contracts scam perpetrated by the immediate past administration of Mr. Ayodele Fayose has boomerang, leading to invitation of top official of the agency to Abuja.
Also, the bank account of Ekiti SUBEB is also said to have been flagged while some of its top officials have been invited to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja for questioning.
According to the online newspaper ngrmirrior.com gathered that the SUBEB chairman, had discovered when she assumed office that contracts worth close to N1 billion was hurriedly awarded, with one single company getting more than 30.
The contracts were allegedly sold to third parties at exorbitant rate of 35 percent making execution of the jobs difficult.
“Those who bought the contracts paid 35 percent of the contracts sum to the account of a single company (name withheld), which was used as front for two top officials of the State Government,” the source said.
Prof Aladejana had petitioned the UBEC in Abuja and also copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with the mindset that cronies of Fayose, in the civil service awarded the contracts.
“The chairman had petitioned UBEC in Abuja before she realised that the contracts were awarded with the full participation of Governor Kayode Fayemi’s men, especially the Chief of Staff, Biodun Omoleye.
“When Governor Fayemi got to know about the steps taken by Prof Aladejana, the governor was so livid that he threatened to sack the chairman if not for prompt intervention of his wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi,” a source said.
ngrmirror.com said the SUBEB Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusesan Fabamise was summoned to Abuja two weeks ago to explain how the contracts were awarded.
It should be recalled that the SUBEB in Ekiti State ran into trouble waters during the first tenure of Governor Fayemi, when counterpart fund of N850 million paid into the Access Bank account of the agency was diverted.
Then, Fayemi’s administration had hoodwinked the Federal Government into paying its own matching grant by obtaining N852, 936,783.12 loan from Access Bank on November 25, 2013 without perfecting documentation in respect of the loan, thereby flouting the provisions of Section 11(2) of the UBEC Act, 2004.
UBEC, in a letter dated April 16, 2015, with Reference Number; UBEC/FA/SUBEB/EK/183/Vol.II/162 described the withdrawal as a criminal act that violated Section 11(2) of UBE Act 2004 and conveyed its suspension of Ekiti State from accessing any further FGN-UBE Intervention Fund.
