Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The All Progressives Congress ( APC) in Ekiti State has criticised Governor Ayodele Fayose for declaring ambition to contest the 2019 presidential election while owing state workers salaries and allowances ranging from six to eight months.
The party said the governor’s action is a height of insensitivity to the people’s plights and “irresponsible conduct to behave as if Ekiti State treasury is a personal estate for private comfort”.
Fayose had on Thursday declared his presidential ambition at a ceremony held in Abuja, the nation’s capital, in breach of his party’s arrangement to zone the office to the North.
But in a statement in Ado-Ekiti by Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party flayed the governor for “being blind to the sufferings of workers while pursuing self-promoting presidential ambition”.
“It is the height of wickedness for Fayose to always call teachers to meetings like he did this week to brainwash them on the state’s poor finances and later give them N1,500 pittance for transport until the next brainwashing session with these teachers in empty stomachs while he enjoys full life misapplying state’s money for his fancies.
“This is more condemnable against the backdrop of facts available to Ekiti people that Fayose has been awarding contracts at over-bloated costs to his friends outside Ekiti State contrary to his promise to patronise indigenous contractors during his campaigns,” Olatunbosun said.
He contended that the money the state had collected so far since the governor’s assumption of office is enough to make the people happy if he had applied the money honestly and transparently, saying his Thursday presidential declaration was to distract the people from alleged funds mismanagement in pursuit of a selfish ambition.
“The presidential declaration is a distraction to keep Ekiti busy from keeping attention to his illegality in the application of Ekiti money for selfish purposes and a ploy to embark on whipping up sentiments to escape justice in his misapplication of Ekiti money.
Ajayi, who has declared interest in the 2018 governorship seat on the platform of the APC, promised to use the instrument of salary increment and reward for excellent services to rid Ekiti of fraud , if elected .
The Actuarial Scientist, who said this in Ado Ekiti on Friday while unveiling his ambition for the plum governorship seat slated for 2018 in the state, said: “I quite appreciate the fact that bad leadership led us into all this mess, but our reward system in terms of wages to workers and excellent service have broken down and this is not helping matters.
“So, rather than beating or jailing people, we must bring back our value and reward system, make them fantastic and dignifying and I believe corruption will be tackled permanently .
“Only a creative governor can make Ekiti work with the current economic problem. Ekiti depends on allocation from the federal government , which had caused several of our youths languishing in poverty, because they have no jobs to do.
“About 40 % registered voters in Ekiti are between ages 18 and 30 and over 85% of them are idle. It is either they are unemployed or underemployed, in fact, many Ekiti youths and bright ones are wasting away.
