The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has frozen the bank account of the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose and some of his associates.
The governor told reporters on Monday in Ado Ekiti that his personal account with the Zenith Bank had been frozen on an alleged order of the commission.
The governor, a strong critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, had gone to a branch of the bank located on Bank/Secretariat Road, Ado-Ekiti for transactions when he discovered that his account had been frozen.
He described the action as “illegal” and an attempt to destabilise the state by the ruling All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
“I find out that the EFCC had blocked my account and the account of some of my associates. I see this as illegal. If you want to fight corruption, fight corruption based on rule of law.
“I’m a sitting governor and under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution I enjoy immunity. When they did this in 2006 based on the poultry project allegation, the court refused to attach my properties.
“You must do anything you want to do within the ambit of the law. This government has no respect for constitutional provisions. They should not be in a hurry; in 2018, I will be done. I will come to them myself. I have become a figure in this country that I have nowhere to go.
“This rascality of the EFCC must stop. Did they not contest election? Where did they get the funds from? Is it because they are the sitting government? So any other person that conducted election apart from the APC is a thief?”
Fayose, who urged Buhari not to see himself as a saint, alleged that the President’s wife, Aisha, was allegedly involved in a transaction with an American, Jefferson, that was jailed in the Halliburton Scandal in the United States.
“There was a judgment against the wife of the President where she wired $170,000 to Jefferson that was convicted in the Halliburton scandal.
“If she wants to deny that we will publish in the newspapers. The government is more corrupt than ever. How could somebody stealing a cow be pursuing somebody that stole a mouse. They are using force and harassment to intimidate the opposition.”
The governor promised to challenge the action in court.
“We will take every legal step to get things right, they can’t continue with this rascality. I’m not leaving this bank until they have given me a statement confirming that because on their system they said my account is restricted by the EFCC. They must put it into writing because the EFCC under the law has no power to touch my property.
“It is not new. I fight everyday and God grants me victory every day. They want to destabilise this state, they want to take the state at all costs and it is not going to be possible.
I’m on ground. I’m not going to shy away for life, death or incarceration. They will not coerce me and take away my right,” he said.
When contacted, the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, countered Fayose’s argument on his immunity.
Wilson, who did not confirm or deny whether Fayose’s account was frozen or not, said, “What I can say is that a governor’s immunity does not mean he cannot be investigated.
“Immunity only means that the governor cannot be prosecuted. That is the position of the law.”
Another source at the EFCC said, “We have a mind-boggling evidence of fraud against Fayose which will be made public in due course.”
