The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has decried Governor Ayodele Fayose’s criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments.
It said the governor was guilty of worse insensitivity to his people in his appointments.
Reacting to Fayose’s criticism in the media, the Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement described the governor as lacking in moral authority to accuse another man of ethnic bias in appointments.
He said: Fayose’s treatment of Muslims in terms of appointments is the worst since the state was created. Ekiti Muslims were not given up to one per cent of the appointments made by his administration.”
Olatunbosun said while Buhari’s appointments of his aides were based on merit and a conviction that they would deliver good services to lift Nigeria out of the woods, Fayose’s consideration for appointments was based on narrow selfish motives for self-preservation.
He said: “While Buhari considered competence, merit and track records of sound morality in public conduct in the appointments of his aides, self-preservation is the major criterion for appointments in Fayose’s government.
“This self-preservation is anchored on prospects of the vulnerability of the appointees to manipulation and family affinity, which Fayose believes he can exploit to enable him have a firm grip on the state and do whatever he wants with the fortunes of Ekiti people, without restraint.”
The APC spokesman said while Buhari saw hard working and honest Nigerians as having equal rights to political appointments, to render their services to the nation, Fayose’s choice of appointees was based on loyalty of such appointees to serve his personal interests.
Listing instances where Fayose chose personal interest above state’s interest in appointments, Olatunbosun said: “In the twilight of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Governor Fayose chose 73-year-old Amb. Toye Olofintuyi from his (Fayose’s) Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government as Ekiti State representative at the Federal Civil Service Commission, against the wishes of party leaders.
“Fayose’s chief of staff is from his ward. His personal assistant, secretary of the Local Government Education Authority and the chairman of Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA) are from Afao-Ekiti, the governor’s home town.
“Also, the chairman of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government is from Afao-Ekiti. State and local government chairmen of PDP are from Afao-Ekiti, the state secretary of PDP is from Afao-Ekiti, the same with the chairman of the Task Force on Petroleum Distribution and Monitoring.
“The governor’s special assistant on Security is his cousin from Afao-Ekiti, which is not up to a ward in a state that has 177 wards, while political appointees in the Odua Group of Companies are from Afao-Ekiti.”
He added: “In a seven-member board and commission, Fayose appointed two members from the same town, who are his cronies, while the Igbo, Urhobo, Ebira and Hausa he appointed into Christian and Muslim pilgrims boards are his aides.”
Olatunbosun said in the Christian Pilgrims Board, the governor appointed two people from the same local government into a board of seven members, while in the Judicial Service Commission, he appointed two people from the same town.
Dismissing Fayose as an unconscionable politician in his relationship with fellow Ekiti people, he said the governor was an apostle of impunity and reckless disregard for the nation’s law, noting that what mattered to him was close family affinity and political cleavages that would serve his personal interest.
His words: “Fayose’s first law in politics is that of self-preservation. He believes this can only be guaranteed if he engages his family, relations and the cleavages he maintains from other parties to which he had earlier defected before returning to PDP to marginalise members, who built PDP into a strong party to face APC in the last elections.
“Today, he has elevated members of his former Labour Party and those of Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA), who defected with him to PDP above the original PDP members he has marginalised.
“Fayose converted Ado-Ikere-Akure road boundary to his town road contract. Although the Ikere-Akure Road contract sum is higher than that of Afao Road contract, the contract variation cash has ended in private pockets.”