Stolen $50,000 belongs to Ayodele Fayose, not aide – APC

*Accuses Governor of plan to withdraw case from court

*Says he only used aide to escape investigation by security agents for money laundering

“We call on the EFCC to immediately arrest Omosilade to explain where he got $50,000 while the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) is being put on notice to monitor the activities of Ekiti State Judiciary in this criminal matter, even as we call on the Inspector General of Police to monitor his men in Ekiti State in the manipulation of this criminal matter.”

The last may not have been heard about the issue of $50,000 purportedly stolen from the Government House in Ado-Ekiti, which was claimed to belong to one Mr. Sunday Omosilade, the Personal Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, on Friday, disclosed that the said stolen actually belonged to the governor, who it said only used his aide, Omosilade, as a “canon-folder to escape investigation by security agencies in a clear case of money laundering.”

The Ekiti State chapter of APC accused Governor Fayose of alleged “clandestine moves”, therefore, to withdraw the case of alleged theft of N75m ($50,000) in the Government House allegedly involving his mistress (allegedly at large) and other three aides already before the Chief Magistrate Court, in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

The APC observed that the governor, who had refused to pay workers salary and pensioners allowances as a result of which many workers have now turned beggars while pensioners were dying for lack of adequate care, had a lump sum $50,000 to throw around which he claimed belong to his aide.

Fayose’s aides, Bamidele Temitope and Afolabi Sunday, and a street foreign exchange operator, Shuaibu Amidu, were on Wednesday arraigned before Chief Magistrate Adegboye in Ado-Ekiti over theft of $50,000 belonging to Fayose’s aide on Domestic affairs, Sunday Omosilade.

Police Charge Sheet marked Charge Number MAD/019C/2017, The DEFENDER gathered, stated that the money belonged to Governor Ayodele Fayose’s Personal Assistant, Sunday Omosilade.

But the Ekiti State chapter of the APC, in a statement signed by his state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taiwo Olatunbosun, said the money actually belonged to the governor and not his aide as he claimed.

The party, according to Olatunbosun, said, “We want to reiterate that Governor Fayose is the owner of that $50,000 but he wants to use Omosilade as a cannon-folder to escape investigation by security agencies in a clear case of money laundering.

“We have been crying everyday that there is a massive looting of Ekiti money, and with this incident, it is now near clear how Ekiti State’s funds, including federal allocations and bailout of N20b, are being spent privately on women of easy virtues in the Government House to service the lavish and reckless lifestyle of the governor while Ekiti workers and pensioners remain unpaid for six months.

“We call on the EFCC to immediately arrest Omosilade to explain where he got $50,000 while the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) is being put on notice to monitor the activities of Ekiti State Judiciary in this criminal matter, even as we call on the Inspector General of Police to monitor his men in Ekiti State in the manipulation of this criminal matter,” he concluded.

In a statement on Friday by its Ekiti State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC said Fayose had allegedly started making moves to withdraw the case against the culprits on the counsel of the governor’s senior advisers.

He said the party was aware of governor’s advisers’ counsel to withdraw the damaging story that had found its way to the media, and warned the governor of the consequences of the arrest of his Personal Assistant on Domestic Affairs, Sunday Omosilade, who in the police charge sheet admitted that he was the owner of the $50,000 found on the arrested suspects.

“We are aware of deft moves by the governor to manipulate the court and the police to destroy court records on this matter after Fayose’s advisers told him that he made a mistake by arresting the suspects and  making Omosilade, who doesn’t have N30,000 in his account balances,  to claim that he is the owner of $50,000, and pointing out that the boy cannot escape EFCC investigation that can turn awry for the governor.

“We are also aware how Fayose is pained by media leak of this crime, wondering how an in-house matter became a matter of media hype,” Olatubosun said.

He added: “We are also aware that Fayose had recalled Omosilade who he had earlier sent packing from the Government House over his involvement in the matter to return to his job, including giving him a brand new car he was earlier denied while other aides got theirs and as we speak, Omosilade has relocated to the Government House again.”

Olatunbosun also alleged that more facts had emerged on the Government House theft, saying the party was aware that two other ladies, allegedly quartered permanently in the Government House, were already having a rough deal with the governor.

According to him, one of the ladies, who had allegedly built fortunes for herself in Lagos, Abuja and Ekiti through property acquisitions, has been sent packing from the Government House yesterday (Thursday) over her alleged role in the theft while the other one is on her way out.

Olatunbosun called the attention of the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Mr Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to the alleged plan to destroy court records in the criminal matter. He warned that it is too late to manipulate the case as all court processes in the matter are in public domain.

The party reiterated its earlier call on the EFCC to step in to investigate a young man who can’t boast of N20,000 in his account to explain how he got $50,000 in Ekiti State Government House.