Fayose kicks as EFCC, bank defy court order on frozen accounts

Governor Ayodele Fayose, of Ekiti State has decried what he said was impunity on the part of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Zenith Bank PLC, following the bank’s refusal to honour his cheque.

He said that despite his service of the Federal High court order on the bank, the Ado Ekiti branch of the bank refused to honour a cheque he presented to them for withdrawal of some money.

He said he would challenge their action in court, stating that he personally took a cheque to the bank so that they could write their reason for not honouring it at its back “as evidence.”

Fayose told newsmen at an annual dinner with them, in Ado Ekiti, on Friday night, that it was condemnable that, despite the ruling of a Federal High Court which threw out EFCC’s application for a stay of execution of its earlier judgment that the suspension of accounts be lifted, the bank still went on to defy the court.

“This is the impunity we are condemning. The bank and the EFCC got all the judgments of the court, but the agency still harassed the bank to act against the law. If I sent somebody with a cheque, they could give excuse, but I was there myself and acts of impunity such as this cannot continue. We will challenge them,” he said.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo had, in December, given a judgment, ordering the EFCC to de-freeze Fayose’s accounts and, following the judgment, the governor went to the bank a few days later and was able to withdraw some money from the account.

However, the anti-graft agency approached the same court for a stay of execution of the judgment, but the court threw out the agency’s application saying it lacked merit.

On his recent election as the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Fayose said he did not lobby for it.

“My colleagues, in their wisdom, unanimously elected me the chairman of the forum. By the grace of God, we are going to reposition our party. The Peoples Democratic Party is only a sleeping giant and when it wakes up, those mocking us now will quake. Charlatans, who are one leg in, one leg out, and causing confusion in the party, would have to decide where to belong,” he stated.

While appreciating journalists for their support, he advised them not to allow themselves to be drawn into politics. Doing so, he noted, would impugn on their integrity and make them inherit other people’s enemies.

Fayose also called on Nigerians to pray for their leaders and support them.

In his remarks, chairman, Ekiti State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Laolu Omosilade, commended the governor for his support for the union and his developmental strides in the state.