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Tag: Ayodele Fayose

  • Ekiti people aren’t beggars, APC tells Fayose

    •PDP: opposition full of hypocrites •Stomach infrastructure continues

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has berated Governor Ayodele Fayose for not fulfilling his electoral promises to the people, saying his “stomach infrastructure” slogan is meant to treat the electorate like beggars.

    The “stomach infrastructure” mantra has sparked a volley of verbal tirades between the opposition and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    As the two parties bicker, the distribution of rice, chicken and vegetable oil continued yesterday in some locations in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, with residents turning out in droves to receive the “Christmas largesse”.

    Some of the locations include Governor’s Office, Government House, open field near a popular eatery at Okesa and the state poultry project site, Agric Olope,  in Ado-Ekiti.

    Party leaders and members, civil servants, teachers and Okada riders were trooping to the designated collection points to collect the items.

    The ruling party said despite the APC’s criticisms, “Fayose will continue to run a welfarist government and will continue to identify with the masses by putting food on their tables”.

    The APC, in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said: “Fayose has turned Ekiti people to beggars by giving them handouts in form of “chickens not bigger in size than ailing pigeons”.

    He said Ekiti people have seen “the deceit of a man who said he is a friend of the common man with his callous attitude to the people he claimed to love during the period the people are supposed to be happy”.

    “Governor Fayose gave two “congos” of rice and miserable palm oil not up to 1 litre, all totaling N700 to each worker that he had earlier deducted N2,000 from his salary for Christmas gift.

    “This is in contrast to ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi, who empowered the people through agriculture, cooperative and employment and apprenticeship schemes involving over 2,000 youths, which helped the people to earn a living and made them happy for four years as against Fayose’s tokenism as Christmas gifts.”

    The APC spokesman said instead of Fayose building on these schemes, he had cancelled all programmes, rendering the youth jobless. while he had also cancelled It said promotions in the civil service had also been cancelled while many were allegedly dismissed for  offences they did not commit.

    He added: “Fayemi, last year, paid civil servants 30 per cent of their salary as Christmas bonus. He also paid their leave bonus while their December salary was paid on December 18.

    “In contrast, Fayose has refused to pay civil servants their September salary even though he had collected September allocation from the Federal Government. Civil servants are yet to be paid as at December 22.”

    Olatubosun urged the governor to pay workers their entitlements and stop treating them like beggars, stressing that even though APC was not in power, each of the 177 wards would receive 20 bags of rice from APC leaders.

    But the PDP urged the people not to listen to the APC, accusing the opposition of copying Fayose’s stomach infrastructure policy.

    A statement yesterday by the State PDP Secretary, Tope Aluko, said:  “They abuse us for providing succour for our people. They described stomach infrastructure as an insult to Ekiti people.

    “They said it does not add value to the people; it diminishes their self-esteem, it diminishes their sense of self-worth and it denigrates what politics ought to be about.

    “Yet, they adopted the same concept of stomach infrastructure by personally sharing food items to the people.

    “After condemning the concept, isn’t it rather too late that the APC people are just realising that poverty should be addressed by providing immediate succour because poverty is poverty; it knows no religion and it has no tribal mark; and it affects everyone of us?”

  • Blame Fayose for jailbreak, insecurity, says APC

    Blame Fayose for jailbreak, insecurity, says APC

    The All Progressives’ Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayodele Fayose should be blamed for the upsurge in crimes in the state.

    It said his conduct and body language created conditions for crimes to flourish. Reacting to yesterday’s attack on the prisons in Ado-Ekiti, where one prison official was killed and all inmates escaped, APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said Fayose had deliberately created conditions for crimes to thrive.

    He listed reduction in the funding of the security agencies that are responsible for keeping peace and security.

    This, he said, had lowered the morale among the security agents while it has almost become impossible to service the equipment they use.

    “We cried out about the dangers of not funding security agencies adequately by reducing security votes. The governor increased his personal security vote from N100million to N200 million while he slashed security votes to security agencies by 50 per cent.

    “The governor has proved that he is above the law. The message he sent to criminals during the attack on the judiciary is clear. The belief among criminals is that they have a backer who will always come to their rescue.

    “Fayose once said on a radio programme  during the curfew period that okada riders should disobey the curfew and asked them to call him if arrested to secure their release. Since then, criminals have hidden under that kind of open support to use okadas to commit crimes.

    “No wonder it was reported that the gunmen came with motorcycles and escaped with them. All criminal activities never experienced during Governor Kayode Fayemi have crept to the state. We now live in fear.

    “Since Fayose assumed power, we have recorded five robbery cases, thuggery, arson, murder and kidnapping.

    “During Fayemi’s administration when kidnappers from Delta State came to Ekiti State for operation, the well-equipped and highly motivated security agents in the state frustrated them and got them arrested. Since then, nothing of such happened until a crime-friendly administration came on board.”

    The APC spokesman said instead for the governor to concentrate on governance and give people a sense of security, he has busied himself with propaganda and lies to deceive the people and set them against opposition politicians.

     

  • Fayose to APC lawmakers: return

    Fayose to APC lawmakers: return

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has urged All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers to return and join him in developing the state.

    Fayose said: “I am a man of good conscience in this matter and one with good conscience fears no foe. So, I appeal to them to return home and work for the progress of our dear state.

    “I took the oath to do protect the lives and property of all Ekiti residents, irrespective of their political beliefs and I cannot do anything to negate that oath.

    “I want to emphasise that Adewale Omirin and I are brothers and I am ready to work with him.”

    Dismissing reports of inter-party bickering among lawmakers, the governor said his commitment to security of life and property in Ekiti remained unflagging.

    Speaking with reporters after a meeting with the State Traditional Rulers’ Council yesterday, Fayose pledged to put enduring security measures in place to contain the trend of insecurity in the state.

    Omirin said his life and that of the other 18 APC lawmakers were not safe and that Fayose would have to assure them of safety for them to return.

    The governor said: “It is my duty to guarantee the lives and property of all Ekiti citizens as the Chief Security Officer.

    “What Omirin and his supporters are saying are mere political statements. That they are not safe cannot be true. You know when we are playing politics, we can say anything.”

    He promised to pay all monetary entitlements of former Governor Segun Oni, noting that the gesture was to promote unity and oneness.

    “It is our duty to stop political vendetta in Ekiti. No one can take away the contributions of Segun Oni to the development of this state. The court might have ruled that he was never a governor, but that court cannot take away his achievement,” Fayose said.

    A communiqué at the end of the Traditional Council’s meeting yesterday regretted the face-off between the APC and the PDP.

    The communiqué read by its Chairman, who is the Onitaji of Itaji, Oba Adamo Babalola, said: “As major stakeholders and leaders of our people, the council has decided to intervene by calling the two parties to order in the overall interest of Ekiti State.

    “Council is of the view that the matter is purely domestic and ought not to have been externalised as it is being done.

    “Council expresses strong feelings that the duo are representatives of

    Ekiti State and can therefore not afford to do anything inimical to the corporate survival of the state.”

  • Save Ekiti from criminals, says APC

    Save Ekiti from criminals, says APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has urged Governor Ayodele Fayose to provide security for Ekiti people.

    Reacting to the bank robbery in the state, APC’s Public Secretary Taiwo Olatubosun said the security experience of Ekiti people negated the campaign promises the governor made.

    He decried the killings of security agents at Ikere, saying the laxity in the operations of the police was not unconnected with lack of motivation and right equipment to fight crimes.

    “We cried out last time that cuts by the governor in the votes to security agencies in their operations will hurt their capabilities to fight crimes.

    “Former Governor Kayode Fayemi bought armoured personnel carriers, equipment and vehicles for the police and adequately funded the Army, DSS and Nigeria Civil Defence for effective security provision.

    “Throughout his tenure, Ekiti people went about their normal businesses and could sleep with their eyes closed.

    “It is sad that like his first term, the governor will not work with the DSS. Just a month in the saddle, we are recording reverses even when the security vote to the governor has reportedly doubled while disbursements to the security agencies have shrunk.

    “We also seize this opportunity to appeal to Ekiti State Police Command to be fair in handling of cases.

    The current siege by criminals is dangerous to Ekiti people, particularly opposition politicians, who are being targeted for attacks.

     

  • Ekiti exco inaugurated

    Ekiti exco inaugurated

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has inaugurated the State Executive Council, urging them to respect “the oath of secrecy”.

    At a brief ceremony in the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office, Fayose urged the members to be proactive as governance was about service to the people.

    The governor has urged contractors handling 26 projects awarded by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) during the last administration to proceed with the projects.

    He said they would be allowed to execute the projects if they showed proof of competence and sincerity to contractual agreements.

    Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Sunday Hezekiah lauded the gesture, assuring that the contractors would reciprocate the governor’s gesture by delivering good jobs

     

  • Ekiti exco inaugurated

    Ekiti exco inaugurated

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has inaugurated the State Executive Council, urging them to respect “the oath of secrecy”.

    At a brief ceremony in the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office, Fayose urged the members to be proactive as governance was about service to the people.

    The governor has urged contractors handling 26 projects awarded by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) during the last administration to proceed with the projects.

    He said they would be allowed to execute the projects if they showed proof of competence and sincerity to contractual agreements.

    Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Sunday Hezekiah lauded the gesture, assuring that the contractors would reciprocate the governor’s gesture by delivering good jobs

     

  • His Excellency, the Brigand

    His Excellency, the Brigand

    The irony was clearly lost: it was November 20, the birthday of President Goodluck Jonathan — and so much executive banditry from his side!

    Was that happenstance? Or, as in the technique of creative prose, the true character of the Jonathan presidency, under pressure, unravelling?

    “His Excellency, the Brigand”, was conceived as response to the antics of that tragic figure, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti; and, in the ensuing pattern of the Jonathan presidency planting the dregs in Yorubaland, a fitting presidential viceroy.

    Mr. Fayose’s adult delinquency once ruined him. With his zestful self-destruct moves, that nemesis may yet unhorse him, perhaps dooming him to an even briefer term.

    But the presidential rascality from Abuja, with the Police invading the National Assembly and tear-gassing legislators, all in futile bid to block Speaker Aminu Tambuwal from gaining access, just shows Fayose’s executive brigandage is no stand-alone accident. Suleiman Abba’s Police is, after all, fully involved in the high constitutional crimes, at both Abuja and Ado!

    Indeed, a fish rots from nowhere but the head!

    But make no mistake: the parliamentary desecration that the Jonathan Presidency put up on November 20 and the gubernatorial banditry that Fayose inspired in the Ekiti legislature from November 17, did not just start. They had their roots in the “simple minority” pseudo-impeachments of the Olusegun Obasanjo years.

    If President Obasanjo had been impeached on the basis of this high crime against the Constitution, the presidential rascality of the Obasanjo years would not today come back as tragic farce, threatening a Jonathan fascism.

    In Jonathan vis-a-vis the Obasanjo years however, the child, as the poet famously quipped, has become the father of the man!

    Whereas Obasanjo would limit his power abuse to muscling and blackmailing state legislatures for suspect anti-corruption crusades, Jonathan, in reckless disregard of the separation of power doctrine, is committing the ultimate infamy of invading the National Assembly; and tear-gassing the same legislatures he had requested to approve for him renewed emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

    The trick was clear, though Jonathan and henchmen would hide behind a finger: shut out Speaker Tambuwal because of the defection saga, let in Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha; and on the basis of that exclusion, proceed to unleash a criminal “impeachment” ala Obasanjo’s notorious “simple minority”! That clearly explains why the Police eased in Ihedioha, and attempted to keep out Tambuwal.

    The parliamentary coup failed because the Tambuwal side resisted the security bullies of IGP Abba, who appears un-bashful at making the Police the partisan rod of the president, rather than the dutiful security arm of the Nigerian state.

    On Tambuwal, IGP Abba has gone ga-ga: summarily withdrawing his security details on a mischievous interpretation of the law, unleashing his Police to rain teargas on the Speaker and his fellow legislators, and now, a threatened arrest! This constitutional abomination must not go unpunished.

    For once, Doyin Okupe, unfazed presidential bulldog, somewhat lost his bark. In one breath, he disowned Mr. Abba, claiming the policeman was only doing his job, without any presidential prompting. In another, he denied Mr. Abba invaded the National Assembly. In this yet another Okupe-istic cant, only Okupe believes Okupe!

    But just as well the Reps are threatening presidential impeachment. For this democracy to cease being a joke, there must be zero tolerance for the executive arm as unrepentant conclave of constitutional criminals. If on this basis alone Jonathan is scapegoat to atone for past rascals and deter future culprits, so be it!

    As for Mr. Fayose, his gubernatorial banditry is not without push from Abuja. Since that virtual election eve incident, when the local Mopol commander “dethroned” Governor Kayode Fayemi, claiming that with Vice President Namadi Sambo in town he recognised no governor, Ekiti’s path to constitutional banditry was fully paved.

    From that spot, Fayose had swaggered from one outrage to another — and, like the tortoise that swore never to return home until he was fully disgraced, Fayose will not cease until he exits in a dust of odium.

    What abomination has Fayose not committed, less than two months in office, despite playing pseudo-David in ridiculous religiosity, by throwing himself flat on the floor at a Deeper Life Church service in Ado Ekiti?

    To stop a pre-election eligibility case, Fayose, with thugs in tow and Abba’s Police looking elsewhere, marched to sack the courts and mug judges. As at the last count, the judge who assumed jurisdiction on the case has been harassed off it. Before Fayose and thugs, the courts must bow and tremble!

    Then, to procure fake parliamentary endorsement for rogue commissioners, the all-conquering Fayose thugs and all-colluding Abba Police again came in handy — with seven rogue legislators sacking 19! Again, before Fayose’s concert of thugs and colluding Police, the Ekiti parliament must dive for cover!

    The piquant irony: one of the “approved” commissioners is “Justice and Attorney-General”! Ah, the English, Geoffery Chaucer, would scream from his grave: if gold rusts, what would iron do?! What lawyer worth his training would take himself through such farce?

    But again, a self-destruct Fayose special, in reckless constitutional criminality: procurement of ghost legislators!

    If the Ekiti legislature numbers 26, split 19 (APC) and seven (PDP), where did the three ghost legislators emerge, to form a phantom quorum: not only to “elect” a phantom temporary Speaker, but also to “sack” the lawful Speaker?

    These are the open political graves the excitable Fayose merrily digs for himself. In no time, he would be buried in them, and vanish without trace!

    Ironically, the first act Fayose’s illicit parliament did was to pare itself naked. It abrogated the Ile Uyi, Ile Eye (Land of Honour) branding of the Kayode Fayemi ancien regime — and just as well: for honour and (un)parliamentary knavery are parallel lines that never meet — and declared itself the Fountain of Knowledge.

    But if there is any knowledge in Ekiti’s emerging jungle, it must be absolutely without character!

    Very early in his first term, Lagos Governor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, spoke of the infrastructure of the mind. Eight years later, the result is there for everyone to see.

    Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose, signalled his second coming, with stomach infrastructure. Four years down the line, Ekiti-Kete will feel the full impact.

    In Abuja and Ado, the wages of bad electoral choices loom large.

    After the fraud of voting the southern shoeless boy in 2011, not a few spewed the nonsense of “voting for Goodluck but not PDP”. Well, the truly tragic result is a vindictive president as wilful undertaker.

    At the June gubernatorial polls, Ekiti-Kete hated former Governor Fayemi so much that they would appear to have hated themselves even more! Hence, the wilful self-infliction of the tragic Fayose. The result is expressway to the Stone Age, despite Ekiti’s avowed brain power.

    How ever good or bad a government turns out is a function of democratic choice and consequences. But never must the executive chamber become the bastion of constitutional bandits who, with their Samson’s complex, don’t give a damn, even if they crash the polity.

    That is the manifest danger from Abuja and Ado-Ekiti. It must be resisted, with all legal resolve, by every Nigerian patriot.

  • Fayose seals off speaker’s office

    Fayose seals off speaker’s office

    •It’s not true, says governor

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose yesterday ordered the House of Assembly Speaker’s office shut.

    Speaker Adewale Omirin’s spokesman Mr. Wole Olujobi said some men, acting on the governor’s directive, came to the office about 4pm, sealed it off and seized the Speaker’s official cars’ keys from the drivers, who were told to go home.

    On Monday, seven of the 26-member House sat at the chamber, without the speaker and the deputy speaker.

    Protected by policemen and a band of thugs, they “approved” the governor’s three commissioner-nominees and the list of members of caretaker committees for the 16 local government councils.

    The rule of the House allows a minimum of nine-member quorum. To make up, “three strange people” joined the seven lawmakers.

    But the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, denied the sealing off of the Speaker’s office. He described it as “another falsehood coming from a confused speaker”.

    “We all know that the governor could not have ordered the speaker’s office be sealed up  (sic) because the existence of Adewale Omirin is insignificant to us and the people of Ekiti State having lost the honour.

    “Besides that, Omirin’s driver is under the Assembly Commission, which could employ, promote, transfer or sack drivers and other staff of the legislature.

    “What does the happening in the legislature or operations at the Assembly by the commission got to do with Governor Fayose? Omirin is totally confused and Ekiti people are fed up with their lies. His cries now is (sic) a ranting of an ant, he should be ignored totally.”

    The governor had earlier ordered the freezing of the accounts of the Assembly, cutting off electricity supply to the Speaker’s Lodge and stopping statutory votes for the Speaker’s upkeep.

    The governor also sacked the Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s and Majority Leader’s aides.

    Fayose condemned the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers for “seeking to consolidate the interests of their party rather than the general interest of the people.”

    Speaking through the Special Assistant on Information, Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, Fayose alleged that the APC lawmakers were unpatriotic by trying to ‘arm-twist’ him in passing the list of commissioner-nominees.

    “We expect the Assembly to see themselves as representing Ekiti people and they shouldn’t have the House platform to advance party’s interests. We are not justifying the situation, but Fayose cannot be blamed for self-inflicted injuries Dr. Adewale Omirin brought onto himself.”

    Fayose urged the Speaker to “stop misdirecting himself over his woes”, noting that it was also impossible for the governor to freeze the Assembly’s accounts as he did not operate them.  “They have their banks. We are not going to freeze anybody’s accounts,” he said.

    Fayose urged the Speaker to look “inwards” in resolving the crisis, noting that the troubles with him pre-date the coming of his administration.

    “We don’t expect the telationship to be smoth because of party differences and the lawmakers have a right to reject Fayose only if that is on the basis and interest  of Ekiti people but not to do so for the interest of APC.

    “The Speaker was not in any way removed as being rumoured. Members of the House of Assembly and even the National Assembly used to

    have causes to change their leadership. It is not a new thing in our political history.

    “In Edo State, the APC lawmakers hold their sittings in the Government

    House while the PDP holds separate sittings. Even in Rivers, Judiciary and the House have been experiencing similar problems.

    “They ordinarily ought to pass the Attorney General for Ekiti to sign agreement  on contracts and for the Commissioner of Works to execute them and without the Commissioner for Finance, Ekiti cannot access the N2 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Something honourable for any House to have done is to pass this without any controversy.”

    Ogunsuyi also insisted that the fact that only 16 members attended the news conference in Ikere-Ekiti was a confirmation that 10 members of the Assembly sat on Monday in the absence of the substantive Speaker to ratify Fayose’s list of commissioner-nominees, special advisers and the allowance to constitute council  caretaker committees. “If you agree that 16 were there at the meeting, look for the names of those who were not there and you would know the identities of the three lawmakers that enabled PDP to form a quorum,” he said.

    On the sack of Speaker’s aides, the governor said: “It was the same House during the immediate past administration that passed the Law which empowers the Governor to fire and hire aides for the Speaker and his Deputy and even aides to Local Government Chairmen. So, this Assembly enacted the law I applied as already applied by the last administration.

    His words: “I even learnt that he said the electricity supply to his House has been cut . It smacks of insensitivity for a number three man to be crying wolf over this when the same government he served is indebted to the electricity company to the tune of N133 million.”

     

  • APC to Fayose: name the 10 lawmakers

    APC to Fayose: name the 10 lawmakers

    •Row over endorsement of nominees

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has urged Governor Ayodele Fayose to  name the 10 lawmakers who sat to ratify his commissioner-nominees and caretaker committee members on Monday.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said: “If Governor Fayose wanted the public to believe that the 10 lawmakers formed a quorum, he should let the world have their names and their constituencies.”

    The APC reiterated that only seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers sat and they were joined by three strange men who disguised as lawmakers to deceive the people at the gallery and the selected print media present that they formed a quorum.

    “The electronic media were prevented from covering the event so that the identities of the three men could be protected.”

    The party challenged the governor to produce the video recording of Monday’s proceedings as required by House Rules, if he was sure that 10 members sat.

    It said: “The fact that the self-styled minority leader for Monday’s sitting, Ajibola Samuel, representing Ekiti East II, said 10 lawmakers sat while Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi said nine lawmakers sat showed that Fayose’s men were lying.

    “We make bold to say that at the time the seven PDP lawmakers were holding their illegal sitting in Ado Ekiti, the 19 APC lawmakers, including the speaker and his deputy, were on a live programme on Adaba FM in Akure.

    “There are 26 members in the House of Assembly, if 19 were on a radio programme in Akure, only seven or less should be sitting in the Assembly and if they are more than seven, it means they are rented.

    “It is baffling that the police which could not provide enough security for judges to sit on the governor’s eligibility case suddenly mobilised 300 men to provide cover for an illegal sitting. This is the gateway to fascism the end result of which could be anarchy.

    “Fayose must set a good example and stop fanning the embers of discord among the other arms of government. How can a governor muscle the Judiciary and now turn the legislature to a department in his office?

    “It is shameful that he has lived up to the prediction that Ekiti will move from crisis to crisis under his watch.

    “We appeal to all men of conscience to reject this new tyranny as that is the only way our freedom and democracy could be guaranteed.”

     

     

  • Fayose stops payment of running grant

    Fayose stops payment of running grant

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has stopped the payment of running grant and other allowances of political office holders, pending the payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances of public servants.

    According to the Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor took the decision as a temporary measure to make fund available for the payment of workers’ salaries and allowances.

    “Governor Fayose and his appointees won’t mind going empty stomach so as to bring succour to the workers and the entire people of the State.”