Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has no reservations about declaring his assets, his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, has told qed.ng.
Oyebode was reacting to a statement credited to the Director of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in Ekiti, Akinfolarin Feyisola, directing Fayemi to declare his “end of tenure assets” unfailingly before the expiration of his tenure.
Feyisola told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday that the directive also affected the outgoing deputy governor and other political office holders.
He said that all the affected public officers had been duly informed.
Feyisola said it was mandatory for every political office holder in all parts of the country to declare their assets before getting into and leaving office.
He said that defaulters would be dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for going against the law.
Oyebode confirmed that the governor and all others affected collected the assets declaration form in September.
“Governor Fayemi has no problem with declaring his assets. He is fully aware of the constitutional provision that public office holders must declare their assets before getting into office and when they are leaving,” the spokesman told our correspondent on Monday.
Oyebode added that Fayemi did not only declare his assets to the CCB when he assumed office, he also caused them to be made public.
Fayemi deposed to the Assets Declaration Form for Public Officers at the Registry of the State High Court, Ado-Ekiti, on November 15, 2010 barely a month after assuming office.
The assets, according to the governor, were what he had acquired in his private capacity as of October 15 when the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, declared him the duly-elected governor of the state.
All the assets declared were valued at N750million.
They included cash in local and foreign banks, buildings, undeveloped property jointly owned with his wife, Bisi, vehicles, business enterprises and household items.
As of the time Fayemi became governor, the total amount he had in his local and foreign accounts was N27million, while buildings and undeveloped property he jointly owns with his wife both within and outside Nigeria were valued at N474million.
They included a compound of three buildings in Ibadan valued at N73million, a compound of eight buildings in Isan-Ekiti valued at N120 million, a three- bedroom duplex in London valued at 280,000 British pounds and a-four bedroom detached duplex in Atlanta, Georgia, USA worth US$250,000.
Others were a six-bedroom detached house in East Legon, Ghana valued at US$650,000, an undeveloped plot of land at Guzape District in Abuja valued at N30million, an undeveloped plot of land in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos valued at N25million and an undeveloped plot of land at Ambassadorial Enclave, Legon, Ghana valued at US$250,000.
His late Deputy, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, also declared assets worth N1.2 billion including cash in local and foreign banks, buildings, undeveloped property, vehicles, business enterprises and household items.
Fayemi had challenged all candidates in the June 21 Ekiti governorship election to openly declare that assets.
He made the challenge on May 1, 2014 during the Workers’ Day celebration in the state.
“I am the first governor in this state who declared his assets publicly. No other governor in this state has ever voluntarily declared it. If you go to the internet, those who are on the internet, Google the assets of Kayode Fayemi and his wife, what I own before I became governor I have not added one thing to it and I challenge and dare anybody to come out and bring information to Ekiti people that I own anything including a block that I have added to my house either at Isan or Ibadan or anywhere else that I have house in the world,” he said.
The current closure of all courts in Ekiti State has been identified as a challenge for those who want to swear affidavit of assets declaration as directed by the CCB.
