Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State on Tuesday wrote the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to protest the malicious intimidation of his person by the Commission and indicating his resistance to such intimidation. The Ekiti Governor bemoaned the hatred towards him by the Commission which is compelling him to report to its office in Abuja less than one month to his vacation of office for investigation; acquainting the Commission that he would not appear before its officials for questioning before October 16, 2018.
Fayose had written the EFCC that he would voluntarily come to the Commission’s office in Abuja at the end of his second tenure which elapses on October 15, 2018.
EFCC, however, turned round to compel the governor to make himself available on Thursday, September 20, 2018, for questioning.
National Daily gathered that Fayose, on Tuesday, notified the EFCC of his reservations, making reference to the danger of violating Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which vested immunity on him as a sitting governor.
Fayose complained about EFCC letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service and the Immigration, placing him on watch list and requesting the Services to arrest him on the speculations that he could escape from the country before the expiration of his tenure.
Fayose in the letter to the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, in Abuja on Tuesday, which was accessed by National Daily from Lagos, the Ekiti State Governor lampooned the EFCC for what he considered “unprovoked personal hatred and malice against my person”.
The letter read inter alia, “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 13th September 2018 requesting me to appear on the 20th September.
“As a responsible citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who currently enjoys immunity under Section 308 of the Constitution, it would amount to a breach of the Constitution which I swore to uphold if I appeared in your office on any date earlier than 16th October 2018.
“If done otherwise, it will set a wrong precedent for the constitutional institution that I represent.
“While drafting my response to yours of 14th September 2018, my attention was drawn to your widely publicised letter of 12th September 2018 to the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, and similar agencies, directing them to watch and arrest me on an imagination that I might leave Nigeria to escape investigation.
“This development, to say the least, is disappointing and betrays your commission’s unprovoked personal hatred and malice against my person.”
Fayose argued: the EFCC had “Presumed my guilt even prior to the commencement of an investigation.”
The Governor contended further: “This raises a serious question about the impartiality, independence or neutrality of the commission in the matter;” protesting: I am being “harassed, intimidated and embarrassed by the imputation of crime and the innuendos of criminality underlining your correspondence which has been maliciously circulated widely.”