Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday summoned the former Governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose over alleged misappropriation of funds set aside for local government administration during his time as governor of the state.
According to the assembly, Fayose who served his second term as governor between 2014 and 2018 was invited to appear before the House Committee on Public Account.
Also invited alongside the former governor were the former chairman of the Association of Local Government chairmen (ALGON), Dapo Olagunju, the former Commissioner for local government affairs, Kola Kolade and all the former 16 local government chairmen.
The Assembly had on December 2018 suspended the 16 council chairmen while 8 were reinstated in July 2019.
The decision of the house followed the adoption of the recommendations of the Public Account Committee mandated by the house to investigate the allegation of misappropriation of local government fund by the past Chairmen.
The Chairman of the Public Account Committee, Honourable Adegoke Olajide said the remaining eight chairmen on suspension made a plea to the house for the review of their indictment and possible reinstatement.
He said, ” The concerned chairmen during an appearance before the committee confirmed to have diverted funds of the council on monthly basis to an account but said the action was in compliance with the directive of the immediate past governor.”
He said the chairmen who provided documents to back up their allegations, claimed that the instruction to withdraw the council fund was often passed to them through the former ALGON chairman, Mr Olagunju and the former commissioner for local government.
However, Fayose in a swift reaction said he would not be bothered about the invitation of the assembly, alleging that they had been handicapped by the state governor.
The former governor who spoke through his media aide, Lere Olayinka said, ” Former Governor Ayo Fayose will not dignify an assembly of clowns who are under the total control of a governor who is desperately in search of ways to cover his electoral thievery and failure to secure the acceptance of Ekiti people.
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” If they have any evidence of financial impropriety against him (Fayose), they can ask the man who used SMS to appoint them to invite EFCC operatives and accommodate them in the Government House as he has done on many occasions.As for us, we are moving on.”
Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has sent a bill to the house requesting for the revised of the 2019 budget.
Presenting the bill to members of the House at plenary, the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt Hon Funminiyi Afuye, who read the Governor letter justifying the request, said it was in line with the 2019 – 2021 Medim Term Expenditure Framework.
The speaker noted that the revised budget proposal was just a readjustment of figures as the budget still remain N129 billion, as passed in January 2019.
In their contributions, Honourables Adelugba Olubunmi, Akin Oso Emmanuel, Yemi Osatuyi and Adegbuyi Oluwajuwa, called for speedy action on the bill.
They noted that the revised budget was just a reordering of the 2019 budgetary provisions to cater for critical areas in line with government priorities.
The ratio of the earlier approved budget was 56% recurrent and 44% capital while the revised budget proposal has a ratio of 60% recurrent and 40% capital.
The House committed the revised budget to its committee on Finance and Appropriation for further legislative scrutiny.
The Fifth Assembly had passed the 2019 budget tagged budget of restoration in January 2019 while the revised was necessitated by the May 2019 Iloko retreat declaration which priorities some identified areas of governance in Ekiti State.
