Sources at Nigeria’s premier anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have revealed that a personal account at the Zenith Bank of Nigeria of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, was frozen in connection with over N1.2billion he took in 2014 from the disgraced National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, to prosecute his re-election as governor.
Several of the operatives said the action came at the end of agency’s year-long investigation into the matter.
Our sources claim Mr. Fayose received huge sums of money from the office of the NSA that was meant for arms procurement, with which he meticulously bribed security officials and voters to get into the Ekiti governorship for the second time.
At least three security agencies which investigated the fraud found that the governor stole monies meant for national security, and deposited them into his personal account. N500m was traced to the now-frozen Zenith Bank account.
The Nigerian Army referred some of the officers who took a bribe from Mr. Fayose to the EFCC after some of them were compulsorily retired from service.
It would be recalled that in 2014, SaharaReporters obtained an audio tape in which Mr. Fayose, the then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro; Minister for Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, and Osun State Senator, Iyiola Omisore, connived with army officers to harass and arrest members of the opposition party in order to facilitate Mr. Fayose’s re-election.
While Mr. Obanikoro at first attempted to deny the authenticity of that tape, which had been discreetly made by Captain Sagir Koli, a patriotic army captain, Mr. Adesiyan confirmed it to be genuine.
After his election, Mr. Fayose deposited the monies into his personal account and that of his Spotless Hotel in Ekiti, venue of the infamous rigging meeting.
The EFCC said it is sure to prosecute those involved in the fraud in the coming days.