The ICPC team of investigators, which was said to have included two men and a woman, were said to have visited some of the projects claimed to have been executed with the N25 billion bond obtained from the capital market by the immediate past administration in the state headed by Dr. Kayode Fayemi. It was gathered that the visit was at the prompting of petitions said to have been written by the state Government and a group, Save Ekiti Coalition (SEC). The sources claimed that “the Federal Government is no longer comfortable with the public perception of President Mohammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight as being selective.” It added: “Most importantly, Governor Ayodele Fayose’s claim that complaints from the state to the ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) about how the immediate past All Progressives Congress (APC) government of Dr. Fayemi allegedly fleeced the state were ignored.” Apart from its petition, the state government was also said to have forwarded a reminder to the EFCC and ICPC with Reference Number PB/894/5, dated September 14, 2015 and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr (Mrs) Modupe Alade, in which it expressed the displeasure of the state government to the way and manner the commissions were handling petitions submitted to them. It was claimed that some of the contracts being investigated were the earthwork for the construction of the new governor’s office, said to have been awarded on March 3, 2012 at the sum of N383, 900,911.06; construction of new governor’s office awarded at the sum of N2,027,495,857.45; Civic Centre awarded at a sum of N2,573,584,395.75; rehabilitation of roads among others. Also said to be under investigation is “the N852, 936,713.92 state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) counterpart fund, which was withdrawn from the a new generation bank account of SUBEB, on October 8, 2014, eight days to the end of Fayemi’s tenure.” According to the source, “the N852, 936,713.92 was SUBEB’s counterpart fund paid to enable the board access fund from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of the fund from SUBEB account eight days to the end of Fayemi’s government was the reason Ekiti State government was blacklisted by UBEC.” It was gathered that “ICPC is said to be interested in the rationale behind the transfer of the N852,936,713.92 into what was called Ekiti State Government Capital Project account and not used to pay SUBEB contractors.” The ICPC team, it was further gathered, had “asked questions from officials in the SUBEB about the contracts worth N4,246,094,751.14, awarded in 2012 through the Bureau of Special Projects (under the Governor’s office). “The contracts were for renovation of schools, supply of school furniture and construction of classrooms. Funds for these projects were taken from SUBEB and Local Governments accounts.” In the petitions to ICPC, the petitioners had alleged that “of these contracts, N3,672,078,820.14 were for renovation of schools alone,” with companies getting amounts that ranged from N1, 152,562,555.14; N1,107,744.408.21; N924,977,310.95 to N486,794,545.84. It said: “Immediately the renovation contracts were awarded, one of the companies was paid N750 million (70 per cent of the contract sum); another was paid N600 million (65 per cent of contract sum); the third was paid N600 million (which represented 70 per cent of the contract sum) while the fourth one was paid N150 million (or 60 per cent of contract sum).” The source claimed that “a total of N2.1billion was paid from SUBEB and Local Government accounts to these contractors even before the commencement of work,” and alleged that “over 40 per cent of the payment was diverted into private pockets.” According to the source, “in the 2014 Capital Projects Report, payments to the contractors were presented as; Atlantic Offshore & Properties (N1, 022,130,415.64), Strabic Nig. Ltd (N957, 237,829.62), Bam Darley Nig. Ltd (N742, 730,990.25) and Fatub Engineering Nig. Ltd (N431, 327,270.41) “As at the time N1, 022,130,415.64 was paid to Atlantic Offshore & Properties, only 60% work had been done, meaning that Atlantic Offshore & Properties was only entitled to N691, 537,551. Bam Darley Nig. Ltd that was paid N742, 730,990.25 had done 60% work too and ought to have been paid N554, 986,386.57.”]]>