Fayose suspends Commissioner, Perm Sec for alleged dereliction of duty

The Ekiti State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Jide Egunjobi and the permanent secretary in the same ministry, Mrs Adekunbi obaise were on Friday suspended by Governor Ayodele Fayose for alleged dereliction of duty.


The State governor had immediately ordered the suspension of the duo to be made public through the State owned media and it was being aired intermittently . It was reliably gathered that the governor had visited the Ministry located within the State Secretariat along Saliu Adeoti House of Assembly Way and didn’t find the two officials in their respective offices.

The source said: “The governor ‘s visit was so sudden and unexpected. And when he got there and couldn’t find them, he was so angry and he dropped a hint at that moment that they will be punished”.

The governor was said to immediately contacted the Deputy Governor, Prof Kola Olusola, who supervises the ministry and was said to have found it difficult to rationalize the commissioner’s absence on his desk. Also, the State Head of Service, Dr Olugbenga Faseluka was said to have no valid reasons about the whereabouts of the Permanent Secretary. “When it was apparent though all these investigations that the two officials didn’t take permissions from the expected officials, the governor immediately suspended them”.

Another source in the ministry, however, disclosed that Mrs Obaise travelled to Ibadan for his PhD graduation ceremony which was on Friday, this he said prevented her from reporting in the office. “Mrs Obaise went for his PhD graduation ceremony in Ibadan. Even, she was supposed to have proceeded on annual leave long before now. “So, I think the Commissioner must have gone to Ibadan to celebrate with her, because his own family too is in Ibadan, maybe he used the opportunity to see his wife and children”, he recounted.

The two suspended officials have received accolades from Fayose in recent time for cooperating with Prof Olusola for Ekiti to come first in National Examinations Council(NECO) in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Recalled that Governor Fayose, had during the early stage of his tenure dramatically suspended the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Modupe Alade, for alleged incompetence. The State’s Scribe was later re-absorbed into the system through the intervention of powerful individuals within the state and beyond.