Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital on Wednesday, June 22, to arrest some suspects in the N4.7billion arms cash probe.
They claimed to have found nobody as all the individuals suspected to be complicit in the cash probe have gone into hiding in the state Government House, The Nation reports.
Governor Fayose has threatened to expose those who funded his election
“We have intelligence report that some of these people wanted in connection with the ongoing investigation have been moved to the Government House in Ado-Ekiti.
“They are all holed up in the place but they can’t hide forever,” an EFCC source said last night.
The anti-graft agency traced about N4.75 billion of the diverted $2.1 billion arms cash to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state and former Minister of State (Defence) Musiliu Obanikoro.
The source who pleaded anonymity said Zenith Bank reported the “suspicious transactions” of N4.745billion by Fayose’s associate, Abiodun Agbele, to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and his account was frozen.
Following the freezing of his account, the governor accused the bank of succumbing “EFCC intimidation” in a bid to nail him.
In a statement released yesterday, the Ekiti governor threatened to release the names of the people involved in the transfer of money into his Zenith bank account.
p>“I wish to state further that if it becomes evidently clear that those who willingly provided money for my election can no longer stand by what they did, may be because of threat from the EFCC, I will not hesitate to name names,” he said.
On the reaction of Fayose to the EFCC fact-sheet, the source said: “We have nothing to react to at all because we have put the incontrovertible facts in the public domain.
“Let Fayose go and defend himself. We will not take up issues with him any longer. And having shifted his defence to Zenith Bank, it is the duty of the media to hear from the bank.”
The source added that the anti-graft agency has been on the case for a while.
Fayose who described the EFCC’s case against him as “persecution” and a violation of his immunity, challenged the EFCC to beam its searchlight on the funding of the APC election campaign, especially that of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said it was obvious that he had become the main headache of President Buhari’s administration, adding that “what they are doing now is part of their grand plot to intimidate and harass me into submission but I am not someone that can’t be cowed by threats of incarceration and death.”
Fayose said he cannot be intimidated and will continue to speak his mind on issues bordering on governance in Nigeria.
The commission had created a whirlpool of controversy when it froze the Zenith bank account of the governor on Monday and he stormed the bank to fume.
While Fayose enjoys immunity as a governor and cannot be prosecuted or arrested, the anti-graft agency said it had the right to investigate any governor whose account is being used to move funds.
Governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the freezing of the personal accounts of Fayose as a violation of the constitution. They therefore, called on Buhari to call the EFCC to order.
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