Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi

The Ekiti State House of Assembly on Tuesday issued a warrant of arrest against former Governor Kayode Fayemi over alleged corruption.

The assembly had on Thursday summoned Fayemi to appear before it on Tuesday (yesterday) to defend himself, threatening to issue a warrant of arrest.
But the Minister of Mines and Steel Development failed to honour the invitation, making the assembly to make good its threat.
The assembly, pursuant to Section 129(1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution, ordered the Inspector General of Police, Ibahim Idris, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Wilson Inalegwu, and other security agencies, including international Police to immediately arrest the serving Minister.
The decision was taken at the plenary through a resolution by the lawmakers.

Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, Speaker Kola Oluwawole; the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Dr. Samuel Omotoso and the Leader, Tunji Akinyele, said the summon was to enable the minister to defend the allegations.
Omotoso recalled that the assembly had earlier summoned the former governor on March 10 and August 27, 2016 with a reminder on January 30, 2017, which were declined by Fayemi.

“During Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government, he awarded a N304m contract for planting of flowers for urban renewal project in Ado Ekiti. Over 50% of the contract sum had been paid but there is no single flower anywhere.
“The former governor also purchased 133 vehicles for royal fathers. The vehicles were given out in August 2013 and the contract papers were done in November. This was a clear case of misappropriation.

“He also paid N24m for the construction of Awedele Market. The money was paid to a phoney company and no construction was seen. The most disturbing was that, eight days to the expiration of his tenure, Fayemi withdrew a sum of N852m from University Basic Education Commission account which he was not a signatory to and diverted to other areas we could not trace.

“The former governor also paid a sum of N115m for the construction of a new Governor’s office. But no structure was put in place as we speak. The same was witnessed in the construction of the State Pavilion, the governor’s lodge and the 5km road projects, where billions were diverted. He even took N4bn loan four days before he left office.
“All these needed explanations.
The summon was not meant to harass him. This is just an opportunity for him to clear his name. But should The security agencies failed to bring him here, then we will go the legal way, because we have the constitutional powers to summon any former or serving chief executive.”