From Jimoh Joseph, Ado-Ekiti
A White Paper released by Ekiti State Government has barred a former governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, from holding a public office in the state for 10 years.
The state also barred his former Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Kolawole, for the same number of years.
The duo were barred based on the report of the Ekiti Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which indicted them over alleged mismanagement of the state’s finances between October 2010 and 2014.
Fayemi, now a Minister of Mines and Steel Development, was the governor during the stated period. The report declared them “as unfit to hold any public office in the state.”
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by Ekiti State Government to look into the financial transactions of the state under the administration of Dr. Fayemi had said that the former governor must refund a sum of N2.75 billion allocated from the N25 billion bond obtained by the government for the execution of contract for the construction of Ultra-Modern market in Ado Ekiti, which was never executed.
The commission of inquiry also said that the contractor in respect of the furnishing of the government house built by the Fayemi’s administration should be made to refund a sum of N324.8 million, noting that the contract should not have been more than N280 million.
The panel said it found out that KITWOOD Nigeria Limited to which the furnishing contract of over N600 million was awarded had no traceable address and that “the address on the Letter of Award is a virgin land at opposite the new Central Bank along new Iyin Road, Ado Ekiti.
These and several other revelations were made known today, when the commission of inquiry submitted its report to the State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose. The panel was headed by Justice Silas Oyewole (rtd).
On the purchase of vehicles, the panel said “claim by Coscharis Motors that it supplied 235 and/or 250 vehicles was fraudulent and that fraught with so many contradictions.
“That Coscharis Motors supplied some vehicles outside Ekiti State especially, at Ibadan Liaison office when Ekiti State Government does not have a Liaison office in Ibadan. In respect of this, seven vehicles were supplied outside the State and signed for by unknown persons.
That Coscharis Motors only supplied 219 vehicles to the Ekiti State government and that 17 Joylong Buses were supplied to the Ekiti State Government as gift but later carted away.”
On the controversial N852.9 State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) fund, the commission said it was clear that the Government of Dr Fayemi hoodwinked the federal government into paying its own matching grant by obtaining N852, 936,783.12 loan from Access Bank on November
25, 2013 without perfecting documentation in respect of the loan, thereby flouting the provisions of Section 11(2) of the UBEC Act, 2004.