Former Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose was dragged before a High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Tuesday.
Fayose was taken before the court for his alleged inability to pay the N900 million in legal fees he allegedly owed to Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, his former attorney general and commissioner for justice.
Throughout Fayose’s first and second stints as governor of Ekiti State, from 2003 to 2006 and from 2014 to 2017, Ajayi served as both his attorney general and justice commissioner.
In the case brought before the court with suit number HAD/113/2018, the ex-Attorney-General claimed he handled a total of 18 cases through his law firm for Fayose with each costing N50m as a professional fee, which he alleged was not paid.
He said those cases were prosecuted for Fayose between 2006 and 2014, which bordered on his impeachment in 2006 and the corruption case filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, among others.
In the writ of summon deposed by the claimant, Ajayi asked the court for an order compelling the former Governor to pay the professional fee without delay.
He also sought an order compelling the defendant to pay 20% interest on the debt from October 5, 2018, and 10% from the day of judgement.
Fayose, in his preliminary objection urged the court to dismiss the case on ground that it was statuted-barred, improperly constituted and the claimant failed to comply with the conditions precedent.
The former Governor, while being cross-examined, described himself as a full-time politician, and he admitted to his statement on oath of April 16, 2019, that the suit was ill-conceived and lacks legal validity.
Speaking on his relationship with the former AG, Fayose said; “Yes, I knew him, he did some few works for me. Between 2006 and 2017, he was working with me and also keeping documents for me.”
The case has been postponed until December 13 so that parties can adopt their final responses and written addresses according to Justice Olukayode Ogundana’s adjournment.
