By; ODEYEMI SAMUEL, Akure.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Ondo State chapter has noted with disappointment, the statement credited to the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko on the restriction placed on the bank account of the Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose by the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (FCC).
A statement issued by Steve Otaloro, Director of Media & Publicity APC in Ondo State, said, judging from the content of Dr. Mimiko’s statement, one can readily link the mindset of the Governor to the position of a coward who dies many times before his death as enuciated by Williams Shakespeare.
According to him, emerging revelations had shown that many adherents of the past government of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who pilfered the common patrimony are being exposed daily beyond their faint imaginations, thereby sending shockwaves to their spines and, who could tell whether Dr Mimiko might eventually be mentioned as one of the beneficiaries at the end of the day.
The freezing of Fayose’s account, he said, should not warrant his fears to issue such statement that President Mohammadu Buhari should call to order the EFCC over the freezing of a personal account of Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose.
According to Dr. Mimiko, who urged the President to intervene to rescue the country from what he described as current gross abuse of the Constitution, submitting that what EFCC has done violated section 308 that granted immunity to a sitting Governor.
The law, he said, permits the EFCC to freeze an account or attach a property of a criminal suspect and proceed and to thereafter obtain an ex parte order from the appropriate court. EFCC Act states; where a person is arrested for an offence under this Act, the commission shall immediately trace and attach all the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such economic or financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an interim attachment order from the court.
Otaloro expressed the view that Governor Mimiko should rather advise his Ekiti State counterpart to defend his integrity, especially, after he was alleged to be keeping such a huge amount in his personal account at a time when the state workers had not received six months salaries.
“If you are not a looter, you have nothing to hide, you would promptly focus your energy on defending your integrity. The immunity thing would be secondary matter in your mind” he asserted.
”It should be noted that were it not for the proactive actions of the EFCC in the recent past, no one would have known that an individual could be richer than a state in our country.
”We (APC) therefore call on the people of Ondo State to take keen interest more than before in the management of the state’s financial resources by the outgoing Governor Olusegun Mimiko led administration that has refused to pay workers salaries for upwards of six months”, he further said.