The Court of Appeal sitting in Ado-Ekiti has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from investigating former Ekiti State Governor,
Kayode Fayemi, and other serving and former state officials over the management of the state’s public finances, including the controversial Ekiti Airport project.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on May 8, 2026, Justice Peter O. Affen granted a perpetual injunction barring the anti-graft agency from inviting or further inviting Fayemi and other officials in connection with the state’s contracts, income, expenditure and other financial activities.
The judgment, a Certified True Copy of which was reportedly obtained by Nairametrics, held that the EFCC lacked the legal authority to continue the investigation because of an existing court decision defining the limits of its powers regarding Ekiti State’s public accounts.
Justice Affen ruled that the commission could not rely on provisions of the EFCC Act to override a subsisting constitutional interpretation already made by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The appellate court held that if the commission was dissatisfied with the earlier Federal High Court judgment, its proper remedy was to challenge the decision on appeal rather than disregard or act contrary to it.
“The proper course available to the commission, if dissatisfied with the earlier Federal High Court decision, was to challenge it on appeal rather than ignore or act contrary to it,” the court held.
The ruling followed an appeal filed by Fayemi and the Ekiti State Attorney General after a Federal High Court had declined to permanently restrain the EFCC from investigating the former governor and other officials over the state’s finances.
The lower court had only ruled that the commission could not compel Fayemi to parade with placards bearing allegations of criminal offences before any conviction by a competent court.
Dissatisfied with the refusal to stop the investigation entirely, the appellants, through their counsel, Chief R.O. Balogun (SAN), approached the Court of Appeal, which overturned that aspect of the judgment.
The appellate court consequently restrained the EFCC from inviting Fayemi, the Ekiti State Attorney General, the former Commissioner for Finance, the Accountant-General and other officials over issues relating to the state’s public accounts.
It further held that the responsibility for auditing and investigating Ekiti State’s public accounts is constitutionally vested in the Ekiti State Auditor-General and the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
The legal dispute arose after the EFCC launched investigations in 2022 into alleged money laundering, contract inflation, abuse of office and embezzlement linked to the Ekiti Airport project.
The commission also received a petition on May 10, 2023, from the Ekiti Patriotic Consultative Forum alleging abuse of office, diversion of public funds and contract inflation against Fayemi, prompting it to invite the former governor for questioning.
However, the Ekiti State Attorney General objected, citing an earlier Federal High Court judgment in Suit No. FHC/AD/CS/32/2016 delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, which the state argued barred the EFCC from investigating its public accounts and finances.
Despite the objection, the commission reportedly continued its investigation and sought financial records relating to state appropriations, federal allocations, tax refunds and internally generated revenue, leading to fresh litigation.
The Ekiti Airport project, executed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, was inaugurated in October 2022 shortly before Fayemi left office.
The facility eventually commenced commercial operations in December 2025 under Governor Biodun Oyebanji, who disclosed that the project cost about ₦49.7bn, with Fayemi’s administration spending about ₦14bn and the present administration expending more than ₦34bn to complete it.
The airport project has remained controversial, with civil society organisations demanding full disclosure of its cost, funding arrangements, loan agreements and procurement process.
In a related development, a Federal High Court in Abuja, in December 2025, ruled that the EFCC violated the fundamental rights of the former Director-General of the Ekiti State Bureau of Public Procurement, O’Seun Odewale, after detaining him for three days during investigations into the airport project.
The EFCC had also questioned Fayemi in June 2023 over a separate alleged ₦4bn money laundering investigation. The outcome of that investigation was not immediately clear.
Separately, SaharaReporters had previously published allegations linking funds meant for the airport project to the financing of the Amandla Resort and Conference Centre in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. Fayemi has not publicly responded to those allegations. No court has made any finding establishing the claims.
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