The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Thursday, sealed up about 13 properties in parts of Ado Ekiti, the Ekito State capital allegedly linked to the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose.
The commission also marked a hospital and pharmacy complex which is generally believed to be the property of a member of the state’s House of Assembly and chairman of the assembly’s House Committee on Information, Dr Samuel Omotosho.
Among the properties marked by the commission include a petrol station under construction at Atikankan; a twin block of offices at Basiri; buildings housing a new radio station (Our People’s FM), a hotel and a event centre; a residential building at Onigari and a compound housing twin bungalows at GRA.
At the Basiri site if the buildings, a trader at the site said there was no notice to the coming of the EFCC officials, saying “I was here when they came and they asked me if everything is okay and I said yes.”
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The woman, who did not disclose her name, said: “They asked ‘how is our governor’ and I said everything is fine. They asked me about Fayose and I said he is fine, but that he had finished his tenure and gone.
“They said they were there because of these house and joked if I had any stolen property. I said I had none. Then they announced that they were there because of Ekiti money which Fayose had used to build these houses, and I said I don’t know anything about that.
“Then they went to mark the buildings, after which they left with armed policemen with whom they came.”
At the complex housing the radio station, at Fajuyi, the Station Manager, Mr. Layi Oyawa, ignored the “Keep Off, under EFCC investigation” mark on the building, saying “the building was not sealed but just placed under investigation.”
Oyawa said the organisation was being run by Ejemu Nigeria Limited, saying “you can see, we are on air. EFCC came here this morning that this place is under investigation. They are free to investigate.”
Fayose has been in a running battle with the EFCC over various accusations, especially his alleged ownership of some properties in the state capital, most of which are still under construction.
The state government had, last month sealed off one of the properties at the Onigari GRA in Ado Ekiti, a development which his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, described as “exercise in futility because Fayose has no building is such areas.”
Reacting to the EFCC action, Fayose accused the EFCC of “going about sealing houses belonging to innocent people in the state under the guise that the houses were linked to him.”
Fayose, who reacted through a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, said he was “informing the public ahead of the EFCC’s usual blackmail and media trial,” and claimed that “the EFCC in collaboration with the APC government in Ekiti are going about sealing houses of innocent people in the state, under the guise that the houses are linked to me.”
Fayise said: “This is another wild goose chase and the usual media campaign against my person.
“It is only in our country that an anti corruption agency will first go about sealing houses before determining the ownership, which can be done so easily by visiting relevant agencies.
“I am therefore informing the public ahead of their usual blackmail and media trial.
“None of the properties in question is owned by me and the records are there for anyone that is interested to see.
“The EFCC is advised to stop going about looking for ways to malign my person just because of their hatred as a result of my uncompromising stands on national issues.
“Even if the commission is being pressured from ‘above’ to persecute Fayose at all cost, it should at least, do its job diligently to save itself from persistent embarrassment.”
Also reacting to the sealing of the phamarcy, Dr Omotoso described it as “infringement on my property at Okesa, in Ado Ekiti by EFCC officials,” saying “as an institution established under the law, the EFCC owes me a responsibility and moral obligation of due diligence by doing thorough investigation on my ownership of the said property before the invasion.”
According to the lawmaker, “if this political infringement  on my property and personal harassment is unconnected with my loyalty to Dr Ayodele Fayose, then it is rather unfortunate.”
He said he had put in 18 years as a medical doctor “and a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly for almost 4 years,” saying “I have a clean record of service and I am properly guided in all my endeavours in life.”
Omotoso said “This attempt to malign my name by EFCC by linking my family property to Dr Ayo Fayose is political and was done in clear bad faith.
“A simple check at the land registry would have put paid to this unnecessary exercise and the accompany  media sensation  as all documents relating to the joint ownership of the said property by my Family is in the public domain.
“I hereby call on the EFCC as an agent of the State to disregard all political pressures and misinformation  from the APC  which is using this invasion to drag them into a political matter that is not in the best interest of the institution and the Nation as a whole.
“I also call on the Chairman of the EFCC to call his men to order and stay away from my lawful property so i can live my private life without any further harassment.”
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