Nigeria’s anti-graft body the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has opened up why the account of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose was frozen.
Although section 308 of the 1999 constitution gives immunity to serving governors, the EFCC spokesperson Mr. Wilson Uwujaren says such immunity does not stop a sitting governor from being investigated.
The EFCC says it decided to freeze Gov. Fayose account because it has sufficient evidence that some suspicious lodgments were traced to the account
His words: “It is true that we have frozen Governor Fayose’s account in connection with an ongoing investigation. We will soon release the details of our findings to the public.
“We froze the account because Fayose has no immunity against investigations.
“Let me clarify that the 1999 Constitution does not grant immunity to governors or public officers against investigation.
“The governors and others enjoying the immunity clause in Section 308 cannot be prosecuted. Therefore, Fayose cannot stop EFCC from doing its job.”
Asked if the amount in the Post No Bill ( PNB ) account was up to N1.3billion as being speculated, Uwujaren said: “Certainly, some amount was frozen in Fayose’s account but I cannot say the exact amount till tomorrow (today).”
A top official, who spoke in confidence, said: “It became necessary to freeze the account following clues on alleged suspicious lodgments.
“We will release the facts soon to Nigerians to appreciate the extent of our investigation.”
Governor Fayose has been having a running battle with the Federal Government over his anti-Buhari stance.
Recently, the governor was placed under security watch by the Federal Government and told point blank that he could not travel out of the country unless he seeks a clearance from the Department of State Security.
Many see this latest incident – freezing a sitting governor’s account as one of the moves to muzzle the dissenting voices – a said pointer to the fact that Buhari is running a dictatorial government.