…Says, ‘he’s not cleared’
The Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has disagreed with a former governor of the state and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on the reports that said that he (Fayemi) had been exonerated from the N852.9 million controversial fund belonging to the agency.
Chairman of Ekiti SUBEB, Sen. Bode Ola, who addressed newsmen over the controversy, said it was not true that the former governor and current Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Fayemi, was cleared of the complicity in the alleged misappropriation of the fund.
Senator Ola, who addressed newsmen at his office in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday, said “from the content of the committee report being referred to, it is clear without any ambiguity that financial crime was committed.
“It was established that the Ekiti State government under Dr Kayode Fayemi fraudulently obtained loan from the Bank and moved the fund out of the SUBEB account one year after.
“The loan was gotten from the bank without agreement as to interest rate, terms of payment and no Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO).
“How could the said bank that Fayemi collaborated with to defraud Ekiti and caused gthe suspension of the State from benefitting from UBEC funds, have granted loan without first agreeing on interest rate and terms of payment?
“The money was paid into SUBEB Account in November 2013, while it was
moved out of the account in October 2014 – close to one year after the money was paid and used to access UBEC matching grant and contracts awarded.”
Sen. Ola disclosed that “The committee, report of which is now being celebrated just to confuse the public because of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the government to investigate the financial activities of Fayemi’s government, was just for fact finding and not to indict or exonerate anyone.”
He said the committee was set up so as to enable SUBEB to respond to
UBEC and also remove the embargo placed on Ekiti SUBEB by the UBEC.
The SUBEB Chairman disclosed that “On April 16, 2015, UBEC wrote a
letter to the Ekiti SUBEB in which it said clearly that the action of
the government constituted serious financial crime and also violated
Section 11(2) of the UBE Act 2004 and also went further to threatened
to report to the EFCC if the N852.9 million counterpart fund was not
returned.”
He said “While we do not speak for the State Government, we make bold
to say that assuming but not conceding that the said report actually exonerated Dr Fayemi, he should rather use it as part of his defense at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry rather than running to the media to deceive the public.
“Also, if the committee actually exonerated Dr Fayemi, what then was the need for him to seek court injunction to stop the Judicial Panel of Inquiry?
“Most importantly, the Judicial Panel of Inquiry was not set up to witch-hunt anyone and its terms of reference go beyond the SUBEB issue.”