The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has unsealed some properties it allegedly linked to a former governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Men believed to be EFCC personnel in a white-coloured bus with the number plate – BWR 627 AT – with police protection, on Thursday erased the markings from the buildings with white paint.
Although the EFCC personnel did not disclose the reason for their action, sources said that the development might be connected with the anti-graft agency’s discovery that the properties were sealed in error.
EFCC had on November 22, 2018, sealed the properties in different locations in the state capital, marking them with red ink with the inscription: “EFCC: Under Investigation KEEP OFF ABJ-HQ FAFI.”
The buildings include a block of two-storey commercial complex located opposite the Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission; the NTS Event Hall and Hotel, Fajuyi; Our Peoples 104.1FM, Fajuyi; and a building beside Spotless Hotel, GRA, Ado Ekiti.
Fayose had in a reaction through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, accused the EFCC of sealing houses belonging to innocent people in the state under the guise that they were linked to him.
The two-storey commercial building at Okesa Market, owned by a medical doctor and former member of the State House of Assembly, Dr Samuel Omotoso, was among the sealed properties unsealed last December.
Omotoso had personally removed the EFCC marks on the building, saying his action was consequent upon presentation of documents to EFCC to prove his family ownership of the property.
When contacted on the development, Olayinka said, “We saw it like that and do not know the rationale behind it. We have not been told anything by the EFCC.”
