Posted by By ADESINA AIYEKOTI on
Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Ayodele Fayose, on Monday restated his readiness to honour the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to clear his name in alleged financial malpractices while in office.
Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Ayodele Fayose, on Monday restated his readiness to honour the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to clear his name in alleged financial malpractices while in office.
This is even as a Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed the request by the incumbent governor of the state, Segun Oni seeking to be joined as a defendant in a suit filed against the Inspector General of Police and the State Security Services by the former governor, challenging the moves to breach his fundamental rights.
Fayose, in a letter sent to the EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, by his lawyer, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), said he was still willing and now available to honour the commission's invitation to defend himself of the corruption charges.
The letter reads: 'We act for Dr Peter Ayodele Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti State and on whose instruction we write.
'You will recall our initial letter to you on behalf of our client pleading for extension of time within which our client is to honour your invitation owing to circumstances beyond his control and on health ground.
'On behalf of our client, we wish to thank you for your patience. We have our client's instruction to inform you that he is still willing and now available to honour your kind invitation.
'You may wish, in this regard, to let us know your convenient time when you may wish to see him.
'Our warmest assurances and best regard."
Meanwhile, the Lagos court on Monday vacated the ex-parte order granted in favour of Fayose, restraining the EFCC from arresting him.
The court also refused the joinder application by the Ekiti Sate government, in which it had prayed the court to be joined in the suit brought by Fayose against the Inspector General of Police and the State Security Service (SSS). The court dismissed the objection by SSS, asking that its name be struck out in the suit.
The court, in dismissing SSS objection, held that the applicant (Fayose) had averred in his affidavit that men of the Nigerian Police and SSS laid siege to his home in Ekiti State immediately after his impeachment and that he was only lucky to have escaped, following which he brought the application, seeking for leave to enforce his fundamental human rights against the Inspector- General of Police and the Director- General of the SSS.
He is, in the substantive suit, seeking to restrain them (Police and SSS) from arresting, harassing or intimidating him in whatsoever manner.
The court held, in its ruling, that even the SSS objection was not supported by any affidavit, saying 'the 2nd respondent's motion was not supported by any affidavit. I cannot rely on a motion not supported by fact, hence the application fails."
On the joinder application by the Ekiti State government, the court held that the suit which was an enforcement right suit can be resolved without joining Ekiti State as a party in the suit.
Furthermore, the court said: 'The court cannot restrain an agency from performing its statutory function. I hereby discharge the order of July 3, 2007 made by this court."
The court also wondered why Fayose had not reported to the EFCC, but his counsel said that they had been in contact with the anti-graft agency and that the former would report to the commission next Monday.
The court adjourned, till December 10, 2007, further hearing in the substantive suit by Fayose, in which he is seeking to restrain the Police and the SSS from arresting and detaining him.
Fayose had, in his response to the joinder application, wondered what the state's interest was in the case, when it neither possessed the power to arrest nor investigate him over any alleged offence. He said that the state was not a necessary party in the matter because the case was in relation to the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, which only the Police and SSS could interfere with.