BY GBENGA ARIYIBI
ADO-EKITI- Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has described as punitive the laws that requires public office holders   to close their foreign accounts while serving their fatherland and asked the National Assembly to review the practice in the proposed constitutional amendment.

Rather than compelling them to close their foreign accounts, Fayemi suggested that the affected public office holders should be asked to make a full disclosure of their foreign accounts.

The governor condemned the ongoing trial of the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly keeping foreign accounts while serving as the governor, arguing that it was politically motivated

In a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, yesterday, Fayemi called for the abrogation of the law from the nation’s  constitution. “Those who steal public funds don’t use their own foreign accounts to perpetrate money laundering. They know how they do it and it is not by keeping properly traceable accounts.”

The governor, who lived in the United Kingdom for about 15 years before joining politics, lamented that he had to close his foreign account since he became a public office holder in accordance with the Code of Conduct Rule, saying  he now had to pay the school fees of his son who schools abroad through a third party.

He said: “If we are serious about curbing corruption, there are other things we ought to do that we are not doing. What we should do is to ensure that everyone who owns a foreign account make full disclosure of that account. Once you have closed an account, the difficulty you will face, at least in the countries I am familiar with-the UK and the US-to reopen that account, you will nearly go and bring your mother especially after you have become politically exposed. So how do I deal with my mortgage?”

I have a mortgage for example, how do I pay the mortgage? Because I have offered to serve my people, I should not maintain a decent livelihood in a country where I must keep credit record.

“No fewer than five ministers in the federal Executive council, were until their appointment, living abroad. Are you then saying they should close their accounts? The question is how do they maintain their mortgages, how do they take care of their families that are still abroad? Are you then saying they should cut off from a society in which they have lived for close to two or three decades?  I think this does not happen in any civilized state and I hope to God this is one of the laws that will be done away with in this constitution review process that we are embarking on because it is not a serious law and it does not prevent corruption.

“I have had to go and close down my account and I think it is unfair because I should not be punished for offering to serve Nigeria. An account that I have kept for close to 20 years, I have had to go and shut them down simply because I am now governor. So what happens when I leave?  I don’t think it is an appropriate mechanism for strengthening either the rule of law or of transparency framework that we want to promote in good governance.