EFCC Has Become Instrument Of Oppression, Say Released Fayose’s Aides
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Toyin Ojo and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi , released from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) on Thursday evening said the anti graft commission has become an instrument of oppression in the country, saying Governor Ayodele Fayose’s conduct rescued them from the anti-graft agency net.
The duo who also said that they committed no offence to have warranted the EFCC arrest which practically begged them to leave detention because the petition written against them lacked substance, said “we yielded after much pleadings from top EFCC staff”.
They added that the petition written to the anti-graft agency by a former labour leader , whose name was not mentioned, claiming that the state mismanaged the Paris Club and bailouts allocated to the state by the federal government was bereft of substantial evidence that could be used to prosecute them .
The petition, according to them was written basically to tarnish the government of Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who had directed the workers to observe yesterday as a half work day in honour of the freed officials.
Speaking at a reception organized for them by Fayose after being freed from the EFCC net, 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”, he said.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon Kola Oluwawole and the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Com Ade Adesanmi , 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.
Also speaking Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, who described EFCC as a ‘senseless’ organization, promised to buy new cars for the two officials in appreciation of their loyalty to the state.
“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.
“They said the NNPC Group Managing Director awarded $25b contracts illegally, the EFCC did nothing. Even the presidency has been the one defending him now. What is their interest in Ekiti? Whose interest is EFCC protecting?”, Fayose asked.
