A former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has said he will not dignify the Ekiti State House of Assembly by heeding the call of the members to appear before them over the handling of Local Government funds during his tenure.
Fayose said this in a terse statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, a few hours after the summons was issued.
Olayinka, referring to Governor Kayode Fayemi, said the members of the Assembly should “ask the man who used SMS to appoint them” to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission” to probe the allegation against his boss.
He said: “Former Governor Ayo Fayose will not dignify an assembly of clowns who are under the total control of a governor who is desperately in search of ways to cover his electoral thievery and failure to secure the acceptance of Ekiti people.
“If they have any evidence of financial impropriety against him (Fayose), they can ask the man who used SMS to appoint them to invite EFCC operatives and accommodate them in the Government House as he has done on many occasions.
“As for us, we are moving on.”
The Assembly had summoned Fayose to appear before its Committee on Public Account over alleged misappropriation of local government funds while in office.
Also summoned were the former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria in the state, Dapo Olagunju; former Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Kola Kolade; and the 16 local government chairmen elected during Fayose’s tenure.
A former Speaker of the House, Kola Oluwawole, and some suspended members of the immediate past assembly were equally summoned over the passage of a N10 billion revised Appropriation Law towards the end of Fayose’s tenure.
Olayinka was also directed to appear before the assembly “for alleged unremittance of commercial revenue of above N13 million while serving as supervisor at the state-owned Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State.
The motion for the summon of Fayose, the former speaker and suspended former lawmakers was moved by the Leader of Government Business, Gboyega Aribisogan, on the recommendation of the report of an ad hoc committee set up to probe the passage of the N10 billion revised 2018 Appropriation Law.
Aribisogan said the summon was based on the need “to probe the hurried passage of the 2018 revised Appropriation Law.”
He said the former ALGON chairman, former commissioner and council chairmen were summoned following the adoption of the recommendations of the joint Committee of the House on Public Petition and Local Governments recently directed to look into a petition submitted to the assembly by eight suspended council chairmen in the state.
The assembly had in December 2018 suspended the 16 council chairmen, but reinstated eight of them in July this year.
The Chairman of the Public Petition Committee, Olajide Adegoke, said while presenting the report that “the remaining eight chairmen on suspension made a plea to the house for the review of their indictment and possible reinstatement.
“The chairmen, during an appearance before the committee, confessed to have diverted funds of their councils on monthly basis to an account, but said the action was in compliance with the directive of the immediate past governor.
“The council chairmen who provided documents to back up their allegations, claimed that the instruction to withdraw the council fund was often passed to them through the former ALGON chairman and the commissioner for local government.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Media, Yemisi Ayokunle, who moved the motion for the summon, called for the implementation of the White Paper on the Fact Finding Committee in respect of the government-owned broadcasting outfit.
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