EFCC doesn’t have evidence to prosecute Fayose, says aide
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been accused of keeping the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, in detention just to satisfy the powers that be since it lacked the required evidence to prosecute him.
In a statement yesterday, Fayose’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, said it was laughable that the EFCC was still telling the same stories that it told the public in 2016 and has been unable to charge the former governor to court since Tuesday that he willingly submitted himself to the commission.
“With the deafening noise that they made about the evidence of corruption in their possession and even going by the EFCC ignoble tweet of July 15, 2018, in which the commission expressed its readiness to prosecute the former governor immediately he no longer enjoyed immunity, Nigerians had expected that by now, he will be facing trial in court.
“However, because the EFCC does not have any evidence against Fayose, the commission has opted to keep him in detention so as to satisfy its paymasters whose major agenda is ‘Fayose must be kept out of circulation by whatever means.’
“If not that they are just interested in keeping him out of circulation, why is the anti-graft commission not in court to prosecute him with the ‘overwhelming evidence’ it claimed to have?” he said.
Olayinka, who said Fayose would remain strong in his fight against tyranny, urged Nigerians to ignore any story coming from the EFCC because “Peter Ayodele Fayose has denied all their allegations and he won’t say anything more than what he had said on Tuesday.”
He assured Nigerians that Fayose was prepared to stay in detention for as long as the EFCC would be ready to take him to court.
Meanwhile, a pro-democracy and non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop forthwith the choreographed media persecution of the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose and the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Co-ordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said EFCC’s maltreatment of Fayose smacked of vindictiveness since there was no reason for this prolonged detention of someone on whose matter this same EFCC has dwelt on for over five years.
It also condemned the spread of hate-filled messages and perceptions by some Nigerians on the social media about the erstwhile governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu who is undergoing prosecution by EFCC over alleged financial infraction when he was Abia State governor between 1999/2007.
In another development, Muslims in Ekiti State have protested alleged marginalisation in the first set of appointments made by the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, describing it as Christianised agenda and a blow to the Muslims in the state.
It, therefore, called for the reversal of the appointment of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in favour of Muslims.
The protesters, who converged on Ado-Ikere Road under the banner of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations, (NACOMYO), Ekiti State Chapter, said the appointments made so far by the governor were worrisome to the Muslim community which they claimed is 40 per cent of the entire state population.
The Co-ordinator of NACOMYO in the state, Malam Tajudeen Olutope Ahmed, who spoke with newsmen during the protest, said by excluding Muslims from the first set of appointments announced by the governor was “shocking and highly disturbing to all Muslims in the state.”
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