By Our Correspondent
The Fayose administration, said he has accepted the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry to bar Fayemi from holding public offices in Ekiti State and other parts of Nigeria for 10 years.
The panel, which was chaired by former Acting Chief Judge, Justice Silas Oyewole (retd.), submitted its report on December 13, last year, to Fayose and recommended that Fayemi must refund over N2 billion and return 17 vehicles.
Also recommended for 10-year ban from public office is the former Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Dapo Kolawole, who served under Fayemi.
The recommendation followed the receipt of a White Paper on the report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry which investigated the handling of the state’s finances during the Fayemi administration between October 2010 and October 2014.
The White Paper also recommended that the duo should refund various sums of money to the coffers of the state government.
The State Executive Council (Exco) accepted the recommendations and adopted the White Paper at an emergency meeting Monday.
Fayemi is the Minister of Mines and Steel Development while Kolawole is a board member of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
The ex-governor refused to appear before the panel on account of a lawsuit he filed to the effect that he would not get justice at the panel.
He claimed that members of the panel are loyalists, associates and card-carrying members of Fayose’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Although Fayemi is yet to declare intent to run for the July 14 governorship election, his foot soldiers are working to draft him into the race.
His posters with inscription “Happy New Year, JKF Again” appeared in Ado-Ekiti and other major towns last week.
The recommendation banning Fayemi and Kolawole appears on page 22 of the White Paper.
It reads: “Government accepts the recommendation to bar Dr. John Kayode Fayemi and the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Vincent Kolawole, from holding public offices in Ekiti State for 10 years.”
On Page 15 of the White Paper, Fayemi and Kolawole were declared “unfit to hold any public office” for their refusal to appear before the seven-man jury to give evidence on how they managed the state treasury when they were in office.
It reads: “Both His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, and Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Vincent Kolawole, are recommended as unfit to hold any public office in the state for their refusal to appear before this Commission of Enquiry, even, after the determination of the case challenging the inauguration of this commission before the Ekiti State High Court.
“Their disrespect to the constituted authority and the undignified roles they played in the whole contract saga, were obviously against the interest of the state.”
The White Paper recommended that Fayemi, Kolawole and other members of the erstwhile Exco should account for N2,750,000,000 allegedly allocated for the execution of the contract for the ultramodern market “which was never executed”.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said the White Paper the state government released yesterday on his alleged probe is a joke taken too far.
A statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media), Olayinka Oyebode, reads: “The attention of the Media Office of the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has been drawn to the pre-meditated verdict of the Ekiti State government, as contained in the White Paper submitted by the panel set up by Governor Ayo Fayose to investigate the finances of the state between 2010 and 2014.