He surrendered himself to the EFCC on Tuesday in the company of Governor Nyesom Wike, Femi Fani-Kayode, Mike Ozekhome and hordes of supporters.

Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja

Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, yesterday spent his second day in the custody of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with visitors barred from seeing him. Sources close to the Commission disclosed that he was not cooperating with the anti-graft agency’s interrogators.

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Fayose was also said to have declined the bail offered him by the Commission, insisting on being taken to court. The former governor is being investigated for alleged money laundering to the tune of N4.6 billion, including N1.3 billion that he was said to have collected from former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.

He surrendered himself to the EFCC on Tuesday in a dramatic manner, in the company of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, his counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and hordes of supporters. He had gone there with a bag containing toothpaste and other personal needs.

Fayose, who is being detained at the Wuse office of the Commission, was not allowed to receive visitors even as a source claimed that no prominent Nigerian visited him.

“Of course, he is not allowed to receive visitors. But even at that, no prominent person attempted to see him,” the source said. He said he did not know whether or not he sourced the food he ate yesterday or if he did not eat at all.

He said: “The former governor was in his cell, except the periods he was called to face interrogators. He refused to answer questions; he refused to cooperate with our operatives. We are hoping that he changes his disposition in days to come.

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“It is shocking to us that a man who had boasted that he was willing to talk and clear his name when he arrived Abuja is not ready to speak up and clear his image. Many of the teams raised to interface with him have tried their best to make Fayose to talk but to no avail.”

He said the EFCC has discovered all the properties Fayose allegedly used the money he collected from Dasuki to purchase in highbrow areas of Maitama, Abuja, as well as Lagos.

In the case of Maitama, the address of the property, which is under construction, is Plot 1504 Yedzaram Street. A bold inscription “EFCC Keep Off” has been stamped on the gate of the house. He said that the former governor only spoke when pictures of the houses he was alleged to have purchased were shown to him. According to him, Fayose told them to take him to court.

On whether EFCC was considering granting him administrative bail or charge him to court, the source, a top official of the Commission, said the former governor declined the bail offered him by the anti-graft body. Instead, he said he preferred to stay in the agency’s custody until he is taken to court.

“He refused to answer questions, especially on the N1.219 billion he allegedly received from the Office of the National Security Adviser, through the former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, during the build-up to the 2014 governorship election in the state,” the source said.

The posers, which he said the EFCC wanted Fayose to provide answers, included: “What happened to the N1 billion, which was converted to $5.6 million and handed over to him at his (Fayose) Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, by a former minister of defence?

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“How did he expend the N1.219 billion that was withdrawn in Diamond Bank Lagos and flown by Gyro Airline to Akure, where it was handed over to Fayose’s associate, Abiodun Agbele, on the instruction of Fayose?

“Respond to evidence that a N132 million kick-back received by Abiodun Agbele on behalf of his principal (Fayose) from one of the major contractors, Samchase Nigeria Limited, was transferred to Stillearth; Siqnachorr Integrated Ltd, Skye Bank and one Hajia Rabi Kundili for purchase of properties in Lagos and Abuja for Fayose and his sister, Moji Oladeji.”