Office of the Executive Governor
PMB 5301, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria
The Rt. Honorable Speaker
Ekiti State House of Assembly
Ado Ekiti
PLEASE FIND BELLOW MY RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS BROUGHT TO MY NOTICE.
On Allegation one (1) and two (2)
I am aware that under the constitution of Nigeria the code of conduct tribunal is the only body empowered to try public officers for the infraction of the law on running of foreign account and in my case I have no such case before the tribunal nor was I ever found guilty of such contravention by the tribunal.
However for the records, on allegation 0ne (1) I don’t have any current operational account in the Bank of America, United States of America.
The VISA Credit No------45397806
And
NO------28083056
Are not known to me as stated in the paragraph one (1) of the notice.
On allegation two (2)- The account Nos----50633925 and 60642924 mentioned are no longer operational as claimed and account No---80809594 is not known to me.
3. Illegal diversion of Local Government Funds contrary to Section 162 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
Answer
This allegation is spurious and contains no iorta of truth. I did not divert the sum of 11.7 billion Naira received from the federation account from January 2004-June 2006 from the State account. The notice failed to mention which account was diverted. All allocations from the Federation account comes straight to into the Local Government Joint Account, and as the Governor of the State, I oversee the disbursement of the funds with stipulated guideline of the accounting procedure. In a small State as ours no governor or individual can divert 11.7 billion Naira without serious negative repercussions on the financial running of the state. Government is equally not running by the Governor alone. Details of Local Government Spending and transactions are with the Accountant General’s office and will be produced upon request.
4. Receipt of Illegal Gifts contrary to paragraph 6 of the Code of Conduct to wit.
Answer:
This allegation is false and baseless. I did not receive the sum of 37,000 British Pound sterling from anyone or biological Concept who are handlers of the poultry project of Ekiti State. My personal Assistant has denied collecting the said money on my behalf in his statement of July 24, 2006 to EFCC.
5. Receipt of Illegal Gifts contrary to paragraph 6 of the Code of Conduct to wit.
Answer:
This allegation is also false and I did not receive any illegal gift of the house lying situate at No, 10 Kobiowu Crescent Ibadan as gift arising from the proceeds of the Ekiti State Poultry Project.
6. Receipt of Illegal Gifts of Houses contrary to paragraph 6 of the Code of Conduct to wit.
Answer:
(i) This allegation is also false. I did not receive the property lying at No 23 Ring Road Restaurant Street Ibadan, valued at 20million Naira as a gift. It is not true that I received any gift from the proceeds of Governor’s Office contract awarded to Abiodun Fari-Arole, by extension, Grid Associates Nigeria Ltd. The said property was built from proceeds on my legitimate earnings. I wish to state that I was not a pauper before becoming the governor of Ekiti State in May 2003, as all these allegations are orchestrated to bring me and my government down
(ii) The property lying and being at Are road, Afao-Ekiti State valued about 25 million Naira in my country home belong to me. I started building the house before I became governor of Ekiti State in 2003, and was given to Mr. Abiodun Fari-Arole for completion. He was paid for his services by cash and not paid from the proceeds of cntracts of fountain Hotel. The said property is not a gift to me I have never received any gift or gratification from Grids Associate or Abiodun Fari- Arole. The fact that Fari is an Ekiti contractor does not prevent me not to
(iii) I did not collect 42million Naira directly or indirectly through Mr. Ayobola from Mr. Abiodun Fari-Arole of Grids Associate as illegal gift being proceeds from contract of fountain Hotel and Governor’s office. Abiodun Fari-Arole lives in Ekiti and sees me daily and needs not to go through any third party to deal with me if at all he uses to. Ayobola Abiola does not represent my interest at all. Our relationship is strictly official as he serves as a Banker to the State Government and nothing more. Though I have known him as a casual friend for a while before becoming a governor.
7. Illegal transfer of the sum of $100,000 to the United States of America contrary to the Money Laundering Act 2004.
Answer:
In reply to paragraph 7, I state categorically, that the allegation is false. I did not transfer the sum of $100,000 to the United States of America on the 20th August 2004 through Account No---45703770 of Citi bank or at any time.
Dated this 9th day of October, 2006
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });