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Tag: Fayose

  • Fayose condemns arrest

    Fayose condemns arrest

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has cautioned the Federal Government to be mindful of how it handles religious issues.

    He condemned attempts by DSS officials to arrest Suleiman, describing it as “uncalled for and clear invitation to chaos”.

    In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said the Federal Government was indirectly supporting attacks on Christians and other Muslim sects.

    “Isn’t it ridiculous that instead of running after herdsmen who have killed over 3,000 Nigerians in just one year, the DSS opted to arrest a cleric, who merely expressed his frustration on the government’s inability to protect its citizens?

    “We were all in this country when over 1,000 Agatu people in Benue State were killed because over 10,000 cows died.

    “We were told that the Southern Kaduna genocide was as a result of killing of cows. Up till today, none of those cattle breeders have been arrested.

    “This is unacceptable, we are in a democracy and Nigerians should warn the Presidency against putting this country on fire because religion is an emotional thing.”

  • Fayose seeks support to rebuild PDP

    Fayose seeks support to rebuild PDP

    •Visits Gbenga Daniel

    Ekiti State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum Chairman Ayodele Fayose has called for all-inclusive efforts to rebuild the PDP, describing the party as “a sleeping, and not a dead lion”.
    Fayose spoke when he visited former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel in his Lagos home on Sunday night.
    A statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the governorpromised to work with all PDP leaders across the country to make a success of his tenure.
    Fayose said the party could still boast of the best structures across the country.
    Earlier, the governor received former Minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana and former PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, who visited him to congratulate him.
    The governor called on all serving and former governors as well as other party leaders to rise to the party’s rescue by providing fearless and sincere leadership.
    Daniel, who called for support for Fayose to achieve his good intentions for the PDP, described him as “as a fearless, focused and courageous man, and a timely interventionist with a realisable mission.”

  • Fayose emerges PDP Governors’ Forum chairman

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum on Friday appointed Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, as its new Chairman.

    Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the Forum and PDP Caucus meeting which ended in the early hours of Friday in Abuja.

    Dickson said the PDP chieftains had a very fruitful deliberation on the state of the nation and the party.

    “As an integral part of the discussion, the governors of our party, among ourselves, as well as those who were unavoidably absent, unanimously appointed a new PDP Governors’ Forum Chairman,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Dickson as saying to journalists at the end of the meeting.

    “In line with the tradition of our party, we agreed to appoint our colleague, the most senior governor in PDP, Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti as new Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

    “You are all aware that he is a committed party man, doing a wonderful job in his state. He is well experienced and committed to the ideals of our party.

    “We have all unanimously appointed him as the new Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum to coordinate the affairs and activities of our forum and to work and collaborate with other structures of our party.”

     

     

  • Fayose, APC bicker over worker’s suicide

    Fayose, APC bicker over worker’s suicide

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayo Fayose is to blame for a civil servant’s suicide.
    Tope Afolayan, who was said to have been frustrated by mounting debts and non-payment of arrears of salaries, hung himself last Thursday.
    The party said Fayose’s alleged insincerity in the management of two tranches of bailout funds approved by the Federal Government to pay workers’ salary arrears has claimed another casualty.
    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, APC maintained that the first bailout of N9.6 billion collected by Fayose in September 2015 and the N8.8 billion Paris Club refund are more than enough to clear arrears of workers’ salaries and pensioners’ benefits.
    Olatunbosun said it was callous to receive the funds to pay workers and retirees and keep same in private accounts to yield interests for personal use.
    But the governor insisted that the non-payment of salaries could not have warranted the suicide.
    In a statement by his media aide, Idowu Adelusi, Fayose said Afolayan’s death was caused by recession.
    He said: “Some months back when regular payment of salaries became difficult due to the obnoxious policies of the Buhari administration, this particular civil servant did not hang himself then.
    “Why is it now that regular payment of salary has returned to the state? So far, the government has paid three months out of the backlog. Last December, the government paid two months and Christmas bonus.
    “What in this circumstance can make a worker to hang himself? Something else, which can be depression, caused by the policies of the Buhari administration is responsible for the death.
    There is hunger in the land and the APC government does not have solution to the problems. The APC should be hold responsible for the civil servant’s death.”

  • Fayose imposes curfew on Ekiti community

    Fayose imposes curfew on Ekiti community

    •Monarch barred from palace, sleeps inside mosque

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Awo-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area following the yearlong kingship tussle rocking the community.
    The restriction of human and vehicular movement takes effect from 6pm to 6am daily, until law and order returns to the community.
    Fayose, in a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the curfew is with immediate effect.
    The governor directed the Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, and other security chiefs to enforce the curfew.
    The statement reads: “We are calling on the people to embrace peace and be civil in resolving their differences.
    “We are also assuring our people that religious crisis has no place in Ekiti. We are one regardless of our political affiliations and this government will maintain.”
    Crisis erupted in the community last year when the government named Azeez Olaleye Aladejuyigbe as the Alawo. He was presented with staff of office immediately.
    But some interest groups accused the government of imposing him on them. They vowed not to accept him as their monarch and sealed off the palace.
    Tension rose in the community at the weekend, following intelligence reports that some youths were planning cause chaos.
    The crisis assumed a religious dimension, with princes, who are Christians, claiming that some external forces were allegedly planning to Islamise the throne.
    Aladejuyigbe, according to sources, was not the preferred candidate of the elite and kingmakers but was said to have been enjoying government’s backing.
    It was gathered that some political office holders in the Fayose administration, mostly Muslims, worked with Muslim leaders to influence his appointment.
    A source said: “The man claimed to be a prince, but there was no record to show that he has contributed anything to the development of the palace and the town at large.
    “The Aladejuyigbe family has run several adverts to disown him. So to us in Awo-Ekiti, he was never a king.
    “Well, why we are not unaware of the fact that the new king was not born in this town, what of his father. There was no record to show that he has meaningful contributions in this town.”

  • Tanker fire: APC condemns Fayose

    Tanker fire: APC condemns Fayose

    •Govt: his action shows love

    The Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned Governor Ayo Fayose’s appearance on the scene of a fire last Sunday, which razed a petrol station and 25 shops in Ijigbo, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    The party said the governor carrying a bucket of water to put out the fire was an act of pretence and hypocrisy.

    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun,  APC alleged that Fayose deliberately created conditions that rendered the Fire Service ineffective.

    Olatunbosun accused the governor of turning the incident into “a comic show” by shouting and rolling up his sleeves “in apparent showmanship in his usual way of deceiving the public that he is a man of the people”.

    But Commissioner for Information Lanre Ogunsuyi said the opposition’s criticism of Fayose’s rescue efforts showed that the APC is anti-people.

    He said the action was an indication that Fayose is a man of the people who is  ready to be with them in any situation.

    The commissioner accused the party of playing politics with the incident, which he described as “callous and unfortunate”.

    Ogunsuyi said APC did not assist the Fire Service during its four years in office.

    He claimed the agency did not have a functional vehicle when Fayose came to power in 2014.

    The commissioner added: “We built the Fire Service office in 2004 but they didn’t do anything for them.

    “The action has dignified the governor and showed that he is with the people. “How can APC be playing politics with the incident? This shows the type of people they are.”

    But Olatunbosun said: “Governor Fayose is an unconscionable pretender by trying to quench a raging inferno with a bucket of water after rendering the State Fire Services useless.

    “This is at best showmanship which Fayose is best known for.

    “Fayose should be ashamed of his conduct as he is telling the world that Ekiti is so backward such that it is a bucket of water that is used to put out a raging inferno.

    “It is the height of irresponsibility and sheer pretence for Fayose to turn himself to an emergency fire fighter with a bucket of water after he sacked trained fire fighters and paramedics recruited by his predecessor, former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    “The governor also abandoned the modern fire fighting equipment purchased by the last APC administration.

    “Fayemi recruited 122 firemen and paramedics.”

    Arguing that there were no losses through fires during Fayemi’s administration, APC spokesman said Fayose had turned Ekiti State to “an enclave of anguish” by refusing to pay workers salaries, imposition of unbearable taxes on petty traders and school children.

    “He also cancelled Fayemi’s social security scheme for the elderly but later re-introduced the same programme “as a compensation for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyalists, who are beneficiaries”.

  • $50,000 Govt House theft: Fayose plotting to withdraw case from court, APC alleges

    $50,000 Govt House theft: Fayose plotting to withdraw case from court, APC alleges

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of alleged “clandestine moves” to withdraw the case of alleged theft of $50,000 in the Government House already filed before an Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court.

    Fayose’s aides, Bamidele Temitope and Afolabi Sunday, and street forex operator, Shuaibu Amidu, were on Wednesday arraigned before Chief Magistrate Adegboye in Ado-Ekiti over theft of $50,000 purportedly belonging to Fayose’s aide on Domestic Affairs, Sunday Omosilade.

    Police charge sheet( MAD/019C/2017) stated that the money belonged to Fayose’s Personal Assistant, Sunday Omosilade but the party maintains that the money belongs to the governor.

    This is a governor who has refused to pay workers salary and pensioners allowances as a result of which many workers have now turned beggars while pensioners are dying for lack of adequate care.

    In a statement on Friday by Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said Fayose had allegedly started making moves to withdraw the case against the culprits on the counsel of the governor’s senior advisers.

    He said the party was aware of governor’s advisers’ counsel to withdraw the damaging story that had found its way to the media, and warned the governor of the consequences of the arrest of his Personal Assistant on Domestic Affairs, Sunday Omosilade, who in the police charge sheet admitted that he was the owner of the $50,000 found on the arrested suspects.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, in a swift reaction said: “The money in question does not belong to the governor and it is laughable for anybody to create falsehood that the governor wants to withdraw the case.

    “The money belongs to the governor’s PA and there is no way it would have caused the governor any embarrassment. This is part of lies and propaganda of APC and that is how they have been misinforming the public about the governor and the government of Ekiti State.”

    Olatunbosun said further: “We are aware of deft moves by the governor to manipulate the court and the police to destroy court records on this matter after Fayose’s advisers told him that he made a mistake by arresting the suspects and making Omosilade, who doesn’t have N30,000 in his account balances, to claim that he is the owner of $50,000, and pointing out that the boy cannot escape EFCC investigation that can turn awry for the governor.

    “We are also aware how Fayose is pained by media leak of this crime, wondering how an in-house matter became a matter of media hype,” Olatubosun said.

    He added: “We are also aware that Fayose had recalled Omosilade who he had earlier sent packing from the Government House over his involvement in the matter to return to his job, including giving him a brand new car he was earlier denied while other aides got theirs and as we speak, Omosilade has relocated to the Government House again.”

    Olatunbosun called the attention of the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Mr Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to the alleged plan to destroy court records in the criminal matter.

    He warned that it is too late to manipulate the case as all court processes in the matter are in public domain.

    The party reiterated its earlier call on the EFCC to step in to investigate a young man who can’t boast of N20,000 in his account to explain how he got $50,000 in Ekiti State Government House.

    “We want to reiterate that Governor Fayose is the owner of that $50,000 but he wants to use Omosilade as a cannon-folder to escape investigation by security agencies in a clear case of money laundering.

    “We have been crying everyday that there is a massive looting of Ekiti money, and with this incident, it is now near clear how Ekiti State’s funds, including federal allocations and bailout of N20b, are being spent privately on women of easy virtues in the Government House to service the lavish and reckless lifestyle of the governor while Ekiti workers and pensioners remain unpaid for six months.

    “We call on the EFCC to immediately arrest Omosilade to explain where he got $50,000 while the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) is being put on notice to monitor the activities of Ekiti State Judiciary in this criminal matter, even as we call on the Inspector General of Police to monitor his men in Ekiti State in the manipulation of this criminal matter,” he added.

  • Fayose orders federal agencies in Ekiti to pay rent or leave

    Fayose orders federal agencies in Ekiti to pay rent or leave

    The Ekiti Government yesterday  gave a seven day ultimatum to defaulting Federal Government agencies occupying its property to vacate.

    The government insisted that the agencies must comply with its directive by either buying the property they are currently  occupying or pay the normal rent on the property.

    The News Agency of Nigeria  (NAN) reported  that Governor  Ayo Fayose gave this directive in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka.

    Mr. Fayose said that the state government evicted the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ekiti State Command, and other federal ministries and agencies from their various offices.

    “Yearly, budgetary provisions are made for payment of rent by federal government agencies, which has no permanent offices across the 36 states of the federation

    “We then wonder why those that have been occupying property belonging to the Ekiti government for over 10 years do not want to pay rent or make the properties theirs by buying them,”

    The governor said that some of the agencies had purchased the properties they are occupying while others like National Population Commission had promised to pay.

    “As at today, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency have already paid N5.5 million and N10.8 million respectively for outright purchase of the property they are occupying.

    “Even the NSCDC is already offering to pay N18 million instead of the N27 million it ought to pay.

    “The Nigerian Prison Service, which is also occupying property valued at N108 million is insisting that it won’t pay.

    “We have given a 7-day ultimatum for all the federal agencies to purchase the property, pay rent or quit.

    “We are yet to evict them, we only gave them notice of one year and we have now giving another seven days of grace, there is no going back,” he was quoted in the statement.

  • Fayose’s flags set tongues wagging

    Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, is a man who cuddles controversy like a baby. It is no news that the controversial governor is one of the wealthy Nigerians who own houses in the rapidly developing Magodo Estate, Lagos State. Recently, his five-bedroom house on Adetoro Adelaja Street, off Emmanuel Keshi Street, was renovated. But the real thing that caught the eye about the newly renovated house was the hoisting of the Nigerian national flag alongside that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The house being a private one has left people wondering the motive behind hoisting the two flags in front of it. Perhaps the second-time governor wants people to know that the house belongs to a high ranking government official. Whatever the case, it is an unusual act that has left tongues wagging.

  • Fayose: God’ll pick my successor

    Fayose: God’ll pick my successor

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has said urged the people to pray along with him on the choice of his successor in 2018.

    He said the over one year window available to him to anoint a successor would afford him and the people an opportunity to seek divine guidance ahead of the next governorship poll.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said the governor spoke in Ikere-Ekiti during the inauguration of the last phase of the dualisation of the town’s main road expected to gulp N800 million.

    He promised that the project will be inaugurated in October to mark the third anniversary of his administration.

    Fayose was reacting to the demand by the people that Ikere be allowed to produce the next governor.

    He said:  “With God all things are possible. I will advise you to  take the matter to the Lord in prayers since you are legitimately qualified like any other town in the state.

    “As a leader of the party, I must create a level playing ground for all aspirants. It is God who puts people in positions of authority. I am waiting on God to give me the directive on who to support for the coming election.

    “As for when I will come out with my choice of candidate, we still have over a year before the election and I hope that by the time we clock three years in office in October, the coast would have been clearer.

    “All we need to do is to now send people here and also support by way of infrastructure to scale up this place and others like this that can help in churning out more people.”