Ekiti workers drag out Fayose over N10bn bail out fund, Ozekhome’s N75m

It may be sweat time for Ayodele Fayose, Governor of Ekiti State, who has been queried by civil servants in the state to fully account for the over N10billion bail out fund received from the Federal Government as well as the N75million he doled out to Mike Ozekhome as legal fees.

The workers said Friday that they were not convinced that the governor had acted transparently in the matter of allocation of state resources. They also expressed serious reservations over Fayose’s alleged use of state funds to prosecute a private matter.

In a statement credited to Enlightened Workers Forum ( EWF), and signed by its Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, the group said, “Releasing a whopping sum of N75 million to Ozekhome as part payment of legal fee in the governor’s private case with the EFCC, particularly at a time when he had bluntly refused to pay salaries and pensions is unjustifiable.
“No matter the amount of coloration given to the case, it is not a state case; rather, it is purely a private one involving him and the EFCC and therefore should have been prosecuted with his personal fund.”

Read also: EFCC claims recovery of 50 land documents from ex-NSA Muktar

Fayose, the workers argued, was being unnecessarily smart and queried him thus: “By the way, what impression is Fayose trying to create in this case? Is he trying to turn to white what the whole works already knew as black? He said the money found in his account at the Zenith Bank was donated by the bank to sponsor his 2014 election but the bank promptly denied.

“The EFCC said it was his own share of the diverted N2.1 billion arms fund. Senator Obanikoro who brought the money to him did not only come out to confess but had begun to pay back his own share.”

The workers further claimed that, “His (Fayose) personal assistant corroborated the statement of the senator, the bank manager confirmed it, driver of the bullion van did same so also is the pilot of the plane that brought the money. Yet, Fayose insisted, it was his money but from what source?”

However, while the government is yet to react to EWF’s claims, a bigger challenge for Fayose is the allegation by workers that they were still being owed six months’ arrears after the Federal Government had released about N10 billion budget support funds within a space of 14 months.

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