Fayose Dumped By Coward Friends Who Refuse To Stand As Sureties & Sign Bail Bond

By Olalekan Osiade, New Telegraph

Fayose Deserted By Coward Friends Who Refuse To Stand As Sureties And Sign Bail Bond

Over 3 days after he was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Lagos, the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, is yet to regain freedom from the custody of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), where he was remanded by the trial judge, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun.

Though he was said to have later met his bail condition as at 2pm yesterday, Saturday Telegraph learnt that the continued incarceration of Fayose was as a result of a sudden distance created by some of his old friends and allies, who were expected to stand as sureties but refused to show up and sign his bail bond, a notion denied by a media aide to the ex-governor, Lere Olayinka.

By Monday, when he is expected to be released, Fayose would have spent two weeks (14 days) in incarceration, having been detained since Tuesday October 16, when he voluntarily submitted himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is trying him on an 11-count allegations of fraud.

The judge had granted Fayose bail in the sum of N50 million with two sureties in like sum and also ordered that the sureties must issue a N50 million bond from a reputable bank as well as possess three years tax clearance. Sources privy to happenings around the former governor confided in Saturday Telegraph that the “cowards” were said to have deserted the former governor out of fear of being monitored by the police, the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies.

“He was looking for only two sureties, just two and they could not show up. The bail conditions were not too stringent, it is what many people would easily do but his fair-weather friends were nowhere to be found.

“They all left since his travails begun, they are afraid of being witch hunted by the EFCC and the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission). They are cowards. They wined and dined with him but now left him to his fate”, a female judicial officer, who claimed to be Fayose’s associate said.

Further investigations by our correspondent also revealed that only a handful of those claiming to be Fayose’s friends had summoned the courage to either visit him or show solidarity as expected of friends of any man of that calibre. In the same vein, it was discovered that the ex governor, contrary to some media reports is in the custody of the Nigeria Prisons Service and no longer with the EFCC.

Though Justice Olatoregun had ordered that Fayose be placed under the protection of the NPS, the former governor was seen on Wednesday leaving the court premises in company with EFCC officials. This had fuelled speculations that Fayose was with the anti-graft commission as against the order of the judge. Confirming that Fayose is with the NPS, his media aide, Lere Olayinka yesterday emphatically told Saturday Telegraph that his boss is with “prisons”.