Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose in this interview with newsmen in Abuja on Friday lashed out at the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, describing the anti-graft agency as the most corrupt organisation in Nigeria. The PDP Governors' Forum Chairman in the interview also blamed the barrage of challenges facing Nigeria as a country on ineptitude on the part of President Muhammadu Buhari Excerpts:
Question: Persons under the name "Patriotic Mothers" raised some allegations asking the EFCC to probe your involvement in $2.1b arms deal in what they call "racket". What do you make of the allegation Sir?
Fayose: Well, they are naive and if they have alleged me, they all have to wait. You will recall that about 6/7 months ago, they said they were investigating arms deal, they froze my account, I got judgement against them, it is obvious they are worried about my rising profile, my very steady position at criticising the oversteppings of the APC led federal government. They are worried and they know this platform will make it more meaningful and give all the necessary strength.
Why did they wait till now for that protest, apparently they want to give an impression other than Fayose being the Chairman of PDP Governors' Forum and they are wasting their time.
In the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, I don't want to go too far, many of the officers there have been indicted, even in the EFCC, Magu has been indicted, not only indicted, indicted by the SSS, an institution under the Federal Government. When the judges were indicted, they had to step down, so what is Magu still doing there. EFCC is the most corrupt organisation set up for a personal agenda, funny enough, they issued the statement, not even the so called protesters, they issued a statement of the protest to the public. Where does EFCC derive the power to arrest a sitting governor from, they think we are still in the old banana Republic under the Obasanjo Administration.
They are worried about this new status, being Chairman of the PDP Governors' Forum, so if they want to prosecute people, they should first of all prosecute Magu using SSS report, so they are worried about the development and my being nominated as the Chairman of PDP Governors' Forum. The group is a faceless organisation sponsored by EFCC in an attempt to water down the God given position which they believe is a platform that will affect them negatively.
Question: They also fought the EFCC de-freezing your account asking EFCC to appeal that judgement.
Fayose: They are irresponsible, when judgments go their way, they say whatever they like about the court, any judge that doesn't work with them they arrest and blackmail them. So, can you be a prosecutor and a judge at the same time? Can you be a judge in your own matter? It is a show of executive recklessness, abuse of office, so if they want to probe anybody, they should get hold of Magu, they should remove the log in their own eyes before they talk about others. I am a sitting governor enjoying the comfort of my office. Understand?
So, those hired protesters should be paid their dues and allowed to go back home. They didn’t even have a statement, so what do we say to so many people indicted under the Buhari led administration that has not even been called to come and answer questions. People that have houses abroad, people that they mention their names openly that they are involved in IDP fraud, somebody needs to tell them we have gone beyond that level of trying to corner Nigerians with corruption allegations. People are now wiser, we don't want to hear the rhetoric, they should use another strategy, that one stopped working a long time ago, not even with a smart man like me, you understand.
EFCC is the most corrupt organisation in this country, have you ever seen any EFCC chairman leave honourably before? They always leave in disgrace, they always leave that office in disgrace because they are corrupt people, they dwell on political issues, harass you on political grounds, on vendetta rather than do the needful, that is why they can't achieve much. That is why the so called corruption is not going down in the country because how can an armed robber be pursuing a petty thief.
Question: How do we then kill corruption in Nigeria?
Fayose: You see, not until the operators remove the logs in their eyes, they can't go far, some lawyers are today hired to defend things they ordinarily ought not to defend, they have made a mess, a mockery of the judiciary. Today, judges will give judgment and people will be protesting, behaving as if you are in a Banana Republic, it is odd, it is irresponsible, things we see in this administration are things we thought were of the past.
The federal government should pay attention to hunger that is ravaging the land, they are the same people who set up the IDP camps and they are the same people who went to bomb them, the genocide in Kaduna is there staring us in the face, killings everyday, over 3000 people killed, their throats sliced, buried in mass graves and you will see military personnel being part of it, supervising it, the videos are everywhere, all they can do is to ban soldiers from holding camera phones when on duty. That is ridiculous, they say soldiers should not hold phones because patriotic soldiers who see things going on there send most of these things to the public.
When this type of things happen in a nation, it shows the weakness of the leadership of that nation, unfortunately, the president is so weak, so old and inept to know what is going on in the country, the moment they come and say rankadede, carry on, that is the answer.
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