Fayose, EFCC and rule of law
It is an established fact that those who seek equity must come with clean hands. What this age-long maxim teaches is that we must be above board in our dealings with others. To bring the point home, if we dwell on the unfolding development where the Ekiti State governor revealed that his Zenith Bank account […]
It is an established fact that those who seek equity must come with clean hands. What this age-long maxim teaches is that we must be above board in our dealings with others. To bring the point home, if we dwell on the unfolding development where the Ekiti State governor revealed that his Zenith Bank account was frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), some issues may require clarification.
First and foremost, what the commission has commenced is an investigation. Going by the law, every state governor and his deputy have immunity from being tried for any civil or criminal offence while still in office.
However, in the ongoing controversy in Ekiti, the EFCC has clarified that it is acting within the law by freezing Fayose’s bank account for the purpose of investigation. Furthermore, information filtering out from some sources in the agency indicate that about N1.2bilion, being part of the looted security funds, has been traced to the governor’s account; hence, the need to freeze and investigate it.
While the constitution protects an incumbent governor from trial, it does not preclude him from investigation.
It will appear diversionary for Mr. Fayose to, rather than cooperate with investigators and prove his innocence, resort to inanities by dragging the name of Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of Mr. President into the Halliburton scandal. Already, the former chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, has said that Mrs. Buhari is not the same Aisha that was involved in the scandal. What remains is for Governor Fayose to take things in his stride instead of adopting the “pull-him-down” stratagem against the wife of the president.
Chukwudi Enekwechi, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja