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Plans by the former
governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, to return to power in 2011
have met stiff opposition by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC). The anti-graft agency is now making frantic efforts
to resuscitate the corruption charges brought against the former
governor since 2006 and, yesterday, sealed off Mr Fayose’s property in
Ibadan.

Although the EFCC
insists that its latest actions are in no way related to Mr. Fayose’s
renewed interests in the Ekiti state government house, the anti-graft
agency’s actions seem in line with recent statements by Farida Waziri,
the head of the EFCC, who has vowed to deflate the political ambitions
of all persons indicted by her agency.

Mr Fayose however
condemned the EFCC action, saying no political harassment could stop
him from contesting in 2011. He also warned the EFCC not to trample on
the integrity of the Court that is handling his case corruption case..

Briefing
journalists on how a team of from the commission invaded his Ibadan
residence in the early hours of Wednesday and harassed members of his
family while he was away in Abuja, the former governor said there was
no order of court mandating the EFCC to invade his home or paste
notices on his property, as its officers did.

Fayose’s new woes

The EFCC says that
it yesterday seized two buildings belonging to the former Ekiti State
governor in Ibadan, Oyo State. The spokesman of the EFCC, Femi
Babafemi, said the commission had earlier confiscated the buildings and
has court papers which gave the EFCC leave to seize the buildings.

He said Mr Fayose
had broken the EFCC seal on the confiscated buildings and regained use
of the buildings, which prompted the anti-graft agency’s actions
yesterday.

“The order was not
obtained today. It is an existing order. There was a subsisting court
order for the temporary forfeiture of those buildings. The properties
were seized since 2006 but they broke our seal and got into the
building. We just got information on that which prompted our agents to
move in.

“This is not
related in any way to the 2011 elections. We are seizing the properties
because they are proceeds of crime,” Mr Babafemi said.

Fayose’s crime

An EFCC official, who spoke in confidence with NEXT, further explained Mr Fayose’s alleged crimes.

“One of the
buildings seized by the commission was given to him (Mr Fayose) as a
bribe in the course of the popular poultry project that he carried out.
For the other one, we discovered that when Fayose submitted his assets
declaration form in 2004, the property was declared as a building. In
reality, that property was just a piece of undeveloped land. He lied in
his asset declaration form because the building was erected two years
later in 2006,” the EFCC operative said.

Mr. Fayose was
arraigned by the EFCC on a 51 count charge in a Federal High Court,
Lagos for alleged money laundering, illegal diversion and
misappropriation of about N1.2 billion in 2006. Early this year, Mr
Fayose challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos courts to try him and
the case was transferred to a Federal High Court in Ekiti. The EFCC’s
case against Mr Fayose remains stalled in Ekiti State.