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Tag: Governor Ayo Fayose

  • Stop attacking Falana, APC Chief tells Fayose

    Stop attacking Falana, APC Chief tells Fayose

    All Progressives Congress ( APC ) governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Adekunle Esan, has warned Governor Ayo Fayose against blackmailing Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN).

    Esan criticized Fayose for accusing Falana of purchasing a N1.4 billion Abuja property recovered from a corruption suspect undergoing trial.

    Speaking through the Director General of his campaign, Mr. Olufemi Adebayo on Tuesday, Esan described Falana as a man of integrity who will never involve in any shady deal.

    Esan advised Fayose to face governance and account for how bailout cash, Paris Club refunds and Budget Support Funds received under his watch were spent.

    “We want to advise Fayose to leave Falana alone and explain why he is still owing workers arrears of salaries despite the financial lifelines received from the Federal Government.

    “This is the festive period and it is immoral, unjust and uncharitable for government to be owing workers. This should be his preoccupation rather than attacking Falana.”

  • Ekiti workers to Fayose: We need our salaries, not Xmas clothes

    Ekiti workers to Fayose: We need our salaries, not Xmas clothes

    Government workers in Ekiti State have appealed to Governor Ayo Fayose to accord priorities to the payment of backlog of salary arrears owed them rather than giving their children Christmas clothes.

    They expressed regrets that many of them are dying of hunger while others who are afflicted with debilitating ailments and lack money to access quality healthcare delivery.

    Acting under the aegis of the Enlightened Workers’ Forum (EWF), they welcomed the directive from the Presidency that governors should clear all arrears owed workers before Christmas.

    In a press statement made available to The Nation on Friday, EWF Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, criticised the decision of the governor to provide free Christmas clothes to 20,000 children in the state.

    Describing the Free Xmas Clothes for Kids project as a “misplaced priority,” Bamidele said workers’ salaries should remain the governors’ priority rather than “unnecessary grandstanding and splurge on frivolities.”

    Bamidele said hunger occasioned by the non-payment of salaries has unleashed hardship on workers some of whom, he said are dying of hunger and ailments the can’t treat.

    He said: “We are still at a loss why the governor still owes core civil servants five months arrears, workers in institutions on subventions seven months and local government workers and primary school teachers nine months.

    “Rather than making sincere and concrete efforts to pay our salaries, the governor is busy distributing Christmas clothes for 20,000 children.

    “If he pays their parents regularly, it will be easy for them to buy clothes for their children. It is not the business of government to be buying Christmas clothes for children and this has turned Ekiti to a laughing stock.

    “Offering to buy Christmas clothes for children when salaries are not paid is an attempt to play politics with the poverty of the people and turn the innocent kids to pawns on the political chess board.

    “We reject this Christmas Clothes for Children project in its entirety; all we need are our salaries and allowances. Let the governor look for means to pay them so that we can have relief.

    “A labourer deserves his wages and the sweat of his labour must not dry on his forehead. We have worked for this money, it is our right and not privilege, the governor must pay our salaries.

    “We are also using this medium to call on the Federal Government to investigate how bailout funds, Paris Club refunds, Budget Support Funds sent to Ekiti State were spent.

    “We believe if these monies are deployed to payment of workers, all these arrears would have been offset by now.”

  • Ward Congress: Fayose’s alleged imposition of delegates tears Ekiti PDP apart

    Ward Congress: Fayose’s alleged imposition of delegates tears Ekiti PDP apart

    A fresh crisis has hit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State over the ward congress conducted last Saturday.

    Some party chieftains are accusing Governor Ayo Fayose of violating the party’s guidelines and the constitution by allegedly compiling the names of his stooges and imposing them as “elected delegates.”

    They claimed that the development has sparked tension in Ekiti PDP and has provoked majority of party members who looked forward to a free, fair and credible congress to elect delegates expected to vote at the December 9 National Convention.

    The aggrieved Ekiti PDP stakeholders in a petition addressed to Ekiti State PDP Ward Appeal Panel a copy of which was made available to The Nation on Tuesday urged panel members to disregard the list of national delegates that may emerge from the Local Government Congress
    held on Tuesday, 21st November.

    The petition was signed by Board of Trustees member, Chief Clement Awoyelu; Senator representing Ekiti Central, Mrs. Fatimat Raji Rasaki and House of Representatives member representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2, Mr. Olamide Oni.

    Others who endorsed the petition are Former House of Representatives members, Mrs. Titilayo Akindahunsi and Mr. Olufemi Adeyemi; Mrs. Titilayo Oluwatuyi, Dr. Kunle Folayan, Chief Williams Ajayi and Mr. Fatai Ibraheem.

    The petition reads; “We members of PDP in Ekiti State hereby wish to bring to the notice of the chairman and members of the above-named panel that there was no Ward Congress in Ekiti State on Saturday, 18th November, 2017 or anytime directed by the National headquarters of our
    great party.

    “What actually happened in Ekiti State was the usual practices of Governor Ayo Fayose to single handedly compile the names of his stooges as delegates without following the stipulated guidelines of the party.

    “What this means is that Governor Fayose’s choice rather than the people’s choice emerged as candidates. This singular action has disappointed and provoked majority of members of PDP in Ekiti State.

    “The essence of this is for the governor to enable him select those delegates that would vote for candidates of his choice rather than the popular choice of Ekiti people at the National Convention on the 9th December, 2017.

    “We hereby appeal to your panel to void and disregard the list of delegates submitted by the governor and by intention disregard the list of national delegates that may emerge from the local government congress scheduled for Tuesday, 21st November, 2017.”

    But the PDP Publicity Secretary in Ekiti State, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, described the petition of the aggrieved party chieftains as a ruse and a mischief of the highest order.

    Adebayo who spoke in a telephone chat maintained that valid ward congress was held saying: “the action of disgruntled elements against an organized house will not stand.”

    He said: “The petition is a ruse and a mischief of the highest order; the dates for the congresses were held and everybody knows the venues and they were held according to the constitution of the party.

    “The Electoral Committee supervised the (ward) congress, except they are trying to cover up their inadequacies and unless they did not go to the venue of the congress.

    “That is why they sit down in the corners of their rooms to be writing rubbish in their petition. To us as a party, a valid congress ward congress was held on 18th November and delegates emerged.”

    When asked if the petition written against the alleged imposition of delegates by Fayose did not portray division in the party Adebayo said: “There is no division in the party.

    “If some people are not acting according to the rules of the party, maybe because of their ulterior motives, they are writing petition against the congress conducted in 177 wards in the state.

    “There was no imposition at the congress and we want to urge our well-meaning party members to ignore the action of a disgruntled element against an organized house.”

  • Buhari, Atiku, Lamido, others too old to rule Nigeria – Youth Summit

    Buhari, Atiku, Lamido, others too old to rule Nigeria – Youth Summit

    A youth summit ended in Enugu Friday with the participants urging President Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, ex-Jigawa Governor, Sule Lamido, among others to drop their presidential ambitions in 2019.

    They said these political actors, Governor Ayo Fayose and several others who had indicated interest to rule Nigeria were too old and could no longer able to navigate the country out of her many problems.

    The youths, instead, agreed to project a youth that would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

    The summit in a communique signed by Maryann Chukwuka, Alhaji Haruna and Lawrence Ozifo said: “we have keenly followed Nigerian politics for decades and we come to the conclusion that our fathers have failed in giving us the much expected hope.

    “As such, we urge President Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido, Ayo Fayose and several others who are above 50 years, to give the youths a chance. They have done their best, but it is obvious that their best is not good enough for the country.

    “We, hereby, today endorse one of us, Mr. Iheanacho Ezeakor as our candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

    “We have been hearing that the future belongs to the youths, but this has gone on for decades and all we see is recycling of old politicians. Some of them will rule in military uniform, remove the uniform and come back as civilian presidents.

    “After extensive discussions today, in line with the ‘Not too young to run bill’, we declare that enough is enough; we declare that the Nigerian youths will no longer fold our arms.

    “As youths, our collective decision is that we will no longer continue for Biafra agitation, but work to see that one of us becomes the President of Nigeria in 2019.”

    An elated Ezeakor, who had convened the summit for the Nigerian youths to brainstorm for the way forward in the country, said he was humbled by the decision of his fellow youths.

    While lamenting the worrisome state of affairs in the country, stated that “the future will indeed belong to the youths if they believe in themselves and take up their destiny in their own hands.”

    While blaming Nigeria’s problems on inability to think and poor level of consideration, he said “we should not wait forever to get solutions from government; we need to find solutions.

    “We are talking about Biafra; I cannot deny it; I don’t think the agitations are illegal, but go about it in a more decent and legal way.

    “I agree that getting youths from Igbo land, projecting the person as a presidential candidate will be much better than the Biafra agitation. Let’s make an effort; let’s make a move.

    “I don’t believe that the North or the West hates us as we are made to believe; come up with a good idea, you will see the North and the West supporting you. So, for us to succeed, I’m calling on the Nigerian youths to put aside religion and ethnicity.”

    Read Also: Buhari receives NABRO Bill for assent

  • Court orders Fayose to pay N234m for unjust sack of Fayemi’s officials

    Court orders Fayose to pay N234m for unjust sack of Fayemi’s officials

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has ordered Governor Ayo Fayose to pay over N234 million to chairmen and members of statutory commissions appointed and sworn into office by former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    Fayose sacked members of the State Independent National Electoral Commission (SIEC), Civil Service Commission (CSC), House of Assembly Service Commission (HASC) and Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) on assumption of office in October 2014 when their tenures were still subsisting.

    The affected officials through their lawyers, led by Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) approached the court to reverse their unlawful sack and reinstate them into the Commissions.

    The Claimants anchored their prayers on grounds that the tenure of their appointment is statutory.

    The Court gave the verdict while delivering judgment in separate suits filed by the sacked members of the commissions against the Governor of Ekiti State and the Attorney General of Ekiti State.

    Delivering a judgment on Monday, Justice Oyeyibola Oyewumi ordered Fayose to pay the plaintiffs a total sum of N234, 010, 982.24 for terminating their appointments on October 20, 2014.

    Justice Oyewumi held: “It is trite that where an appointment of an employee is terminated outside the specified terms of agreement or specified terms of agreement or specified period, such a termination will be seen wrongful or unlawful as the case may be.

    “It is upon this basis that I find that dissolution of these Commissions and removal of their chairmen and members by the first defendant (Fayose), is an act of executive recklessness, executive rascality, a grave disregard to the Governor’s Oath of Office which he sworn to uphold, defend and protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The action of the first defendant in this case leaves a sour taste in the mouth. A grotesque galore, which, cannot, and should not, be allowed to stand in the way of justice.

    “It is noteworthy that it has become fashionable for Governors today, that they take over the affairs of a state, the first cause of action is for them to dissolve government boards both statutory and otherwise for them to fix into such positions their political gladiators;

    “Thereby disregarding/discountenancing the constitutional procedure for doing so. This to say the least is most unpatriotic and should not go unsanctioned.

    “It is therefore, declared that mere announcement of the dissolution of the offices of the claimants on the electronic media is a breach of Constitutional trust, it is therefore declared null, void and of no effect. I so find and hold.”

    The Judge, however, refused the Claimants’ prayers for perpetual injunction restraining the Governor or his agents from forcefully withdrawing the monetized vehicles from them.

    The plaintiffs are: Mrs Cecilia Adelusi, Chief Gbenga Agbona, Chief O.K. Aina, Mr. Dele Oloje of SIEC; Chief Ranti Adebisi, Chief Reuben Akomolafe, Princess Omotunde Adelabu, Mr. Kola Fakiyesi, Mrs. Dupe Bakare and Mr. Olorunfemi Babalola of LGSC.

    Others are:Alhaji Aflabi Ogunlayi, Elder Segun Bankole, Mrs. Kemisola Olaleye, Elder Yemi Alade and Chief Sesan Fatoba of CSC; Chief George Ojo, Chief Esan Abejide, Mr. Foluso Ibirinde, Mr. Bayo Akinola and Mr. Kupolati Olaiyan of HASC.

  • Ekiti workers shun Fayose’s welcome party for two aides

    Ekiti workers shun Fayose’s welcome party for two aides

    Civil servants in Ekiti State on Thursday shunned the reception organized by Governor Ayo Fayose to welcome the Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo and Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi back from the detention of the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC).

    The governor had declared Thursday as “half working day” and directed workers to troop out in large numbers to welcome Ojo and Owolabi at Fajuyi, where reception was scheduled.

    Rather than going to Fajuyi to welcome the duo majority of the civil servants had left their offices for their various homes as early as 11.30 pm. Some of them who spoke with our reporter said they can’t welcome the EFCC detainees because they are hungry.

    “We can’t go to Fajuyi to welcome the Commissioner and Accountant General because doing so is against civil service rules which forbids us from participating in partisan politics.

    “Besides, we are being owed six months salaries while our counterparts in local governments are owed nine months. A hungry man is an angry man, the governor should find ways to pay our salaries I am on my way home now,” a worker told our reporter.

    The reception did not start until about 2.00 pm. Only senior public servants, political office holders, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) members and commercial motorcycle riders attended the reception.

    Speaking on behalf of the duo, Ojo claimed that the EFCC could not charge them to court because the “petition written against them by a former labour leader lacked substance.”

    They were arrested on September 28, the day Fayose declared intention to run for President at a ceremony in Abuja and were detained in connection with the alleged mismanagement of bailout funds.

    Ojo said: “I want to thank our governor and Ekiti people, particularly workers for their prayers. The EFCC found it difficult to prosecute us because they lacked evidence.

    “Fayose by his conduct boxed EFCC to a corner, because you needed not fear when you committed no crime.  By our arrests, it was clear that EFCC has become an instrument of oppression.

    “Some states took more than the bailout taken by Ekiti but nothing was done, what is their interest in Ekiti?

    “They asked us to sign so that we can leave the detention but we refused. They started begging us before we left.”

    Fayose promised to give the two officials brand new cars very soon “for their loyalty to the state.” He described the EFCC as a “senseless organization” which he would never beg for any reason.

    Fayose said: “EFCC is senseless body, because if they are not senseless, it should have known that the man who wrote the petition had been sacked because he didn’t deserve to be called a civil servant. The arrest was orchestrated by Ekiti indigenes in collaboration with the EFCC.

    “I will never go and beg EFCC, it will rather beg me. I won’t negotiate anything because I am not afraid of them. There was a subsisting court that barred them from arresting any official of this state, but they breached the law.

    “By the grace of God, I will restructure the EFCC when I become the president of this nation. I will reorganize EFCC and make it looks responsible. They detained me in 2008, but I won them in court, because the most high God was on my side.”

    House of Assembly Speaker Kola Oluwawole and the alleged that the EFCC was still planning to arrest more officials, saying the state will resist such attempt with the last drop of their blood.

    Oluwawole described EFCC as a meddlesome interloper, saying Sections 126 and 127 of the 1999 constitution empowered the assembly to perform oversight functions on state finances and not the statutory duty of the agency.

  • Fayose owes more than four months arrears – Ekiti workers

    Fayose owes more than four months arrears – Ekiti workers

    Workers in Ekiti State appear set for a showdown with Governor Ayo Fayose over his claim on Channels Television on Thursday that his administration is owing only four months arrears of salaries. The governor, who had earlier in the day declared his intent to run for the presidency of Nigeria in 2019, was asked on the propriety of his ambition when he was owing workers under him.

    But the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ekiti State, Raymond Ade Adesanmi, refuted the governor’s claim maintaining that “Fayose owes various categories of workers under him between five and eight months arrears of salaries. Adesanmi disclosed that Fayose’s claim of owing just only four months arrears is already causing tension and disquiet among the workforce.

    He advised government “to always come out with correct information to douse the raging tension in the system.” Speaking with reporters in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday, Adesanmi said although the workers are still loyal to the government, they won’t tolerate comments about their welfare that could strain the relationship between the workforce and the government.

    Clarifying the level of government’s indebtedness to workers, Adesanmi said: “The state workers’ benefits are in different categories thus: pension, gratuity, deductions and salary. “As we speak now, the state civil servants are owed  five months’ salary arrears,  local government, eight months and institutions on subvention, like College of Education Ikere, College of Health Technology Ijero and Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, are owed seven month salary arrears.

    “One cannot but talk about the plight of the pensioners, because one day we will all retire, either on account of age or length of service. As of now, pensioners are  being owed five months pension arrears while gratuity has not been paid since 2012 when former Governor Kayode Fayemi was in the saddle. Ekiti workers are not oblivious of the economic recession that had depleted the financial strength of many states of the federation, including Ekiti.

    “Let me state that we all owe it a responsibility to contribute to the development of this state, but we need to give out correct and accurate information to the public , so that the government and workers can be on the same page, otherwise there will be friction. I want to appeal to the already restive workers to be patient, particularly those who were ruffled by the information,” he said.

  • APC faults Fayose’s claim on alleged marginalisation of Ekiti

    APC faults Fayose’s claim on alleged marginalisation of Ekiti

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has challenged Governor Ayo Fayose’s claim that the state is not gaining anything from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.

    It said instances of the Federal Government’s assistance abound that should have lifted Ekiti people from their present sorry state if the governor had applied various financial aids by the Federal Government honestly.

    Fayose had said in his last media chat, Meet Your Governor, on state radio and television that the Federal Government has not rendered any assistance to Ekiti State.

    He also said that he had not borrowed any money since his assumption of office in 2014, maintaining that all the state’s debts were incurred by the administration of his predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

    He also said the loans taken by the last administration would be fully repaid in 2036.

    But reacting in a statement on Thursday by the Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party berated the governor for always lying to the public to deny various aides he had received from the Federal Government to settle workers’ salaries and projects implementation.

    Listing various instances of assistance the governor had enjoyed from the Federal Government, Olatunbosun explained:

    “Besides regular payment of statutory monthly allocations, including the August allocation that Fayose himself put at N2.3b, the governor borrowed N10b from the Federal Government for projects and took another N2b from the Central Bank for small-scale business but diverted the money as no small-scale entrepreneur received kobo.

    “He took two tranches of bailout of about N20b, N14b in Budget Support Facility and the last Paris Club N4.7b refund largely for salary payment but diverted all to the flyover and new market projects awarded to his friends’ companies in which he allegedly has interest.

    “Fayose who said that the state has not benefitted anything from the Federal Government is in charge of the Federal Government’s N-Power project, school feeding programme and cash transfer programme in which beneficiaries take N5,000 and he has used his position as governor to ensure that it is only his supporters that have benefitted from some
    of these schemes.

    “The Federal Government has also commenced Federal Housing Project around Agric Olope area of Ado-Ekiti while the Federal Secretariat construction has started in the state capital even while his needless but most costly flyover in Nigeria in Ado-Ekiti is a Federal road on which he will be reimbursed by the Federal Government.

    “The question is, where is Fayose getting loans for these projects if it is true that the Federal Government is not patronising the state in spite of Fayose’s refusal to attend National Economic Council meetings where his colleagues in other states table their problems for the assistance of the Federal Government that he prefers to abuse through paid adverts in the newspapers?”

    Olatunbosun accused the governor of sabotaging the state’s interest in his needless fight against the President, explaining that while other governors were keying into the Federal Government’s development projects, Fayose preferred to launch attacks against the President.

    He added: “While Lagos, Jigawa, Kano, Benue, Osun, Ondo and Kebbi, among others, were keying into the agricultural scheme of the Federal Government in rice production and were showing the blue prints for the scheme, Fayose had nothing to show to the point that his Commissioner of Agriculture was asked to present the state’s agricultural agenda but the poor man was askance, as he was not able to say anything because Fayose has no plan for agriculture.

    “Again, recently, when other governors were being asked to show interest in mining prospecting licences, Fayose was at the time busy in the media talking about the non-existent 11 pictures of President Buhari on life-support machines while other governors were signing up for their states, including Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who was sworn in just a few months before the time.”

  • Fayose storms praying ground in Muslim regalia

    Fayose storms praying ground in Muslim regalia

    There was drama at the Eid Praying Ground at Olokemeji area of Odo Ado, Ado-Ekiti on Friday when Governor Ayo Fayose stormed the place in Muslim regalia with a turban to match.

    The governor observed the Eid-el-Kabir prayer with thousands of Muslim faithful and witnessed the slaughtering of the ram by the Grand Imam of Ekiti State who also doubles as the President of League of Imams and Alfas in Southwest, Edo and Delta States, Sheikh Jamiu Kewulere
    Bello.

    The spiritual exercise soon turned political as the Muslims who were impressed with Fayose’s gesture urged him to consider supporting a Muslim to succeed him as governor when his tenure expires on October 15, 2018.

    The Imam who praised Fayose, who is a Christian, for dressing in an Islamic way said the governor was fulfilling the injunction of Allah by not discriminating against those who belong to other religions.

    Kewulere said: “This dressing shows that the governor is not discriminating against any religion. Your Excellency, your dressing is even in line with Biblical injunctions.

    “If you check the book of Zechariah 3:3, the Bible says: “We removed unclean clothes from Joshua, we washed him clean and he was dressed with a clean turban on his head and God’s angel stood by him.

    “Our governor, as you wore the Turban on your head, the angel of God is already with you and that is why you are succeeding in all that you do, against all odds.”

    Demanding a Muslim successor from Fayose, Kewulere said: “Ekiti is 20 years now and since this its creation; we don’t have a Muslim governor yet. We urge you sir, if any Muslim is interested in the governorship from your party, kindly support him to fulfil his ambition.”

    Fayose said he decided to dress like a sheikh on Sallah day because he belongs to everybody in the state irrespective of their religions adding that Muslims voted for him en masse at the last governorship poll.

    He said: “I represent everybody irrespective of religious differences. I got elected by everyone’s vote. Choice of religion is free.

    “As a leader, appearing in  Muslim regalia with a turban is to say that I must be part of everything they Muslims do and make then realise that we all one family. I will also ensure that all their demands today are met.”

    Promising to fulfil the desires of the Muslims in his best possible way, Fayose urged the Islamic clerics to always tell the leaders the truth and preach values of justice and equity.

    Fayose who said that religious leaders wield more influence on the people than government officials or political leaders, urged them to use such influence to reorientate the people towards maintain love, peace, justice and equity for all.

    He added: “Muslims are very peculiar people and Islam is not known for violence. I therefore urge all Muslims to abide by the doctrine of the religion and ensure that they live in harmony with everybody.

    “We have same blood flowing in our veins and are first all human beings before we chose our religion. So, God in us is more important than the religion. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

    “I therefore enjoin them to continue to live in peace for the collective growth of our land, our nation. We will continue to work together so that this country remains one, indivisible but founded on justice and equity.”

  • Witness’ evidence contradicts Fayose’s claim on Ekiti debts

    Witness’ evidence contradicts Fayose’s claim on Ekiti debts

    …Says Fayemi left N49 Billion liabilities, not N89 Billion as alleged by governor

    A witness, Kehinde Odunayo Victor, has revealed that the total amount of debt left behind by the administration of former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi was N49 billion.

    Kehinde disclosed this on Monday when he appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry probing the handling of the state’s finances between October 2010 and October 2014 when Fayemi was in power.

    The witness’ revelation contradicted the claims of Governor Ayo Fayose that the Fayemi left a debt figure of N89 billion behind for his administration.

    Kehinde, told the Justice Silas Oyewole-led panel that out of the N49 billion debt, N25 billion was taken as bond from the Capital Market while N24 billion was taken as loans from ten commercial banks.

    The witness who works in the Funds Management Department in the Office of Accountant General was led in evidence by counsel to the Commission, Sunday Bamise.

    Kehinde who presented a document marked and admitted as Exhibit A13 told the seven-member panel that Fayemi had repaid N42, 691, 410, 210. 37 (N42.6 billion) out of the debt before he left office on October 15, 2014.

    Fayemi had gone to court to challenge the composition of the panel members of which he described as “cronies of Fayose and sympathisers of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who cannot be trusted to do justice.”

    No lawyer represented Fayemi at the proceeding but two lawyers, Ibrahim Olanrewaju and Adeoye Aribasoye told the panel that they were in court as “observers.”

    According to Kehinde “as at the time Fayemi left office in 2014, that debt incurred from outstanding workers’ emoluments, comprising pensions, subventions to schools, among others  was N13 , 819,
    928,727,  92”.

    According to Kehinde, ‘Total Deductions from FAAC allocations in the time under review under the last administration was N18, 684, 785, 314, 75 was allegedly deducted in 48 months.

    He told the panel that N163, 267,220, 48; 07 billion statutory allocations were received by the administration in four years.

    The Panel also heard that the former governor allegedly made N18 billion unremitted deductions from the allocations received within the period in review.

    Another witness, Arogndade Victor Adeyinka, who works at the state Ministry of Finance, tendered a document that indicated how the N25 billionbond was expended.

    According to him, the breakdown of the N20b  first tranch of the bond indicated that a sum of N468 million was  to be spent on Ero Dam, Ureje Dam,  N500m, building of the school of Agriculture, N750m, Road Construction, N2.6 building of Lagos Liaison office, N500m, building of modern market in Ado Ekiti, N2b, building of new government house, N633m, new governor’s office, N400m, Ikogosi Warm Spring, N1.5b, Civic Centre, N1 billion, totaling N19.3 billion.”

    “The N5b second tranch of the bond was broken down thus: construction of Ilawe-Igbara Odo-Ibuji road, N894m, Ikole-Ijesa Isu road, N1.34b, Ewu Bridge, N20m, State Pavilion, N1.553b and Ire Resuscitation of Ire Burnt Brick,  N966m, totaling N4.84b”, the documented said.

    However, there was a mild drama at the sitting when one of the “observer lawyers”,  Olanrewaju called the attention of the commission to the fact that it was wrong to refer to its counsel as prosecutor.

    “I am not here to represent anybody but to honour the court. You have been referring to your counsel (Bamise) as a prosecutor. Who is standing trial here? Who is being prosecuted?, he asked.

    Justice Oyewole quickly responded that “it was a lapse of tongue, he is the counsel to the commission, so pardon our mistake,” he begged.

    The panel sitting continues Tuesday.