Workers, Lawyer Hail EFCC's Arrest of Ekiti Officials

Human rights lawyer, Mr. MorakinyoOgele, has described the arrest of the Ekiti State Commissioner of Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as “the beginning of the recovery of the stolen common wealth of Ekiti people.”An interest group in the state workforce, the Enlightened Workers’Forum (EWF), also urged the anti-graft agency to beam its searchlight on the internally generated revenue (IGR) accounts “which are shrouded in secrecy.”Former Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in Ekiti State, Mr. Kolawole Olaiya, said he had been vindicated by the EFCC swoop on Governor Ayo Fayose’s aides over alleged mismanagement of the first tranche of the bailout funds collected in 2005.

Olaiya, who was a legal officer in the Ministry of Justice, had raised the alarm that the first tranche was diverted, but he was dismissed from service by the Fayose administration in February 2016.

They all reacted to Thursday’s arrest and detention of Ojo and Owolabi by the anti-graft agency, following their refusal to respond to invitations earlier extended to them to come and explain how the bailout funds were spent by the government.

Speaking withThe Nation on the development on yesterday, Ogele, who is also the National Coordinator of Ekiti Redemption Group (ERG), said the EFCC acted within the law by arresting the officials to explain why monies meant for the payment of arrears of salaries, allowances of civil servants and pensions and gratuities of retirees were allegedly diverted. Ogele said: “We welcome the arrest of the Finance Commissioner and Account General by the EFCC.

This is the beginning of the recovery of the stolen commonwealth  of Ekiti people by an administration that has been serially playing games and lottery with their funds.“It is not justifiable that an administration that has collected three tranches of bailout funds including Paris Club refunds, is still owing salary arrears of between six and eight months, and pensioners’ benefits for which the cash was meant to defray. “The probe of the mismanagement of the bailout cash is just a good step to deliver Ekiti people from systematic looting of their treasury.

We want the EFCC to investigate how the ongoing construction of the flyover at the initial cost of N5 billion has been secretly jacked up to N14 billion.“We want the EFCC to look into how the Oba’s Market in Ado-Ekiti initially awarded at the cost of N3.3 billion has been secretly re-awarded to another contractor at N2.8 billion.“Ekiti’s redemption has just started and it will not stop until all looted funds are recovered.”

EWF Coordinator, Mr. Mike Bamidele, said the EFCC crack down  was long overdue because “it is unbelievable that an administration that has been given financial relief could still be owing workers many arrears of pay.”“Bamidele said: “We welcome the EFCC probe, which is long overdue.

We have at various fora and press statements insisted that the government has failed to appropriately utilise the bailout funds.“How can a government that collects monthly allocation up-to-date, N9.6 billion first tranche of bailout, N8.8 billion second tranche of bailout, N4.9 billion first tranche of Paris Club refund, N9.8 billion second tranche of Paris Club refund and N1.3 billion monthly budget support fund for 13 months still be owing seven-month salary arrears, ten-month pension arrears and no gratuity since 2014?“Apart from the bailout funds, we want the EFCC to launch a probe into the secret IGR accounts.

Nobody knows what Ekiti State generates every month and nobody knows the revenue that has been generated since the administration came to power.“This is because the government operates secret IGR accounts which are only known by the ‘oga at the top’ and the collaborating bank officials.“The account numbers are only known to them and we want EFCC to invite the officials of the bank and the Internal Revenue Service officials to explain.

“We also want the probe of local government funds, especially the so-called joint account. The councils only exist in name. We want the EFCC to invite the local government chairmen to shed light on how the council funds are spent.”Olaiya said Fayose, rather than heed his warning that the bailout should be spent for the payment of workers’ salaries and pensioners’ benefits, instigated his ouster from the civil service. Olaiya said: “There is an adage that says when falsehood travels for over 20 years, it takes the truth just one day to catch up with it.

That is the way I want to summarise the EFCC ongoing probe of the Ekiti share of the bailout fund.“I was victimised, I was accused of being partisan when I am not a member of any political party. A kangaroo panel was set up with a mandate to punish an innocent man. The panel had even found me guilty before beginning its work.“The panel demoted me from GradebLevel 12 to Grade Level 10 before unjustly sacking me from civil service.

The truth has come to light now. The EFCC has justified my position that the bailout cash was mismanaged.“I want the EFCC to extend the probe to the current set of labour leaders who are accomplices in the misapplication of the bailout, because the money belongs to Ekiti people and not to a tiny group that has failed to justify the trust of the people.”