The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fayose

  • APC criticises Fayose for crackdown on banks

    APC criticises Fayose for crackdown on banks

    •Party: action threatens economic survival

    EKITI  State All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticised Governor Ayo Fayose for his crack down on some banks.

    The party said such an action constitutes a threat to the economic survival of the Fountain of Knowledge.

    It described the governor’s action as “a wrong signal to the investing community and a recipe for job losses among workers in the bank, majority of who are Ekiti indigenes.”

    Fayose, last week, severed business relationships with Zenith Bank by ordering Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), non-ministerial agencies, government-owned tertiary institutions and workers to move their accounts from the bank within 48 hours.

    The action is believed to be in retaliation for the freezing of his personal bank accounts in Zenith, and the bank’s denial of sponsoring  his campaign in the 2014 governorship election.

    The APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement yesterday said it was wrong for Fayose to drag government agencies into his private affairs, which have no bearing with state matters.

    He said a similar action had forced a sister bank to close its operations in the state.

    The party spokesman noted that Ekiti was seriously economically challenged and cannot afford a confrontation with banks and other investors at this critical period.

    Olatunbosun berated the governor for tying his personal fate to the fate of 2.5 million citizens.

    Olatunbosun said: “Governor Fayose has personalised Ekiti State to the extent that whoever offends him offends the state and her people, which is dangerous to the economic survival of both the state and her people.

    “Last time, he ordered all government’s agencies and workers to move their accounts from Ecobank simply because the bank refused to surrender the cash for its Community Social Responsibility projects to the governor when the bank insisted that it would carry out the projects like is the practice in other states of the federation.

    “For this reason, the governor took offence, destroyed the culvert at the entrance of the bank and ordered government offices and workers to move their accounts from the bank, thereby forcing the bank’s closure in the state with Ekiti indigenes working in the bank losing their jobs.

    “This time, because Zenith Bank washed its hands off election sponsorship fraud through which Fayose assumed power; he is fighting back by severing relationship with the bank by ordering all government offices and workers to move their accounts from the bank.

    “As expected, Zenith Bank will close shop with attendant job losses among Ekiti indigenes working there, including sending wrong signals to the investing community that Ekiti is under a siege of a reckless and maximum governor that promotes  anti-investment policies.”

     

  • Fayose’s monuments of misery

    As I compose this, I am praying silently that some residents of Ado-Ekiti whose houses were demolished with bulldozers rolled out by the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Monday would have found places to lay their heads in this season of ceaseless rains. Reports from the scene of demolition indicated that the exercise was personally supervised by Governor Fayose, who batted no eyelid as aged occupants of the buildings wept uncontrollably. Only two supernatural incidents—rain and nightfall—could temporarily halt the destructive rage of the roaring machines to give the affected residents of Okesa and Fajuyi areas of the town a few hours to move their belongings before the monster machines resumed their inglorious mission.

    Governor Fayose would not be deterred by the wailings of aged men and women who pleaded for more time to secure alternative accommodation before their homes were turned into rubble for the sake of a one-kilometre flyover the governor was hell bent on building in the area. Scores of distraught owners and occupants of the buildings marked for demolition had a few days earlier staged a public demonstration against the plan by the Fayose administration to pull down their structures in furtherance of the flyover project. Acting under the aegis of Okesa Landlords Association, the protesters marched from their neighbourhoods through Secretariat Road to the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

    Spokesman of the house owners, Dada Adesanya, had told the lawmakers that the three-day notice the state government issued to them was too short, adding that the owners and occupants of the houses were gripped with fear of where to relocate after their buildings were demolished.

    He said: “Most of the owners of the buildings are old people who have no money to build new houses. A notice of three days is too short for them to relocate. Apart from this, the agreement we had with the government was 15 metres to the road before they now came up with 30 metres, which we find too shocking and sudden. Most of the occupants of the affected structures are aged people who have lived in the ancient buildings for more than eight years and cannot afford to build another house owing to financial constraints.”

    For reasons impelled more by politics than necessity, the construction of flyovers is seen in this part of the world as a critical element of governance whether it is necessary or not. Because of its physical and easily observable nature, governors are all too eager to go into its construction so they can advertise it as a major achievement and not necessarily because of heavy vehicular traffic. The construction of flyovers in cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt is understood because of the heavy vehicular traffic such cities. In the aforementioned cities, construction of flyovers are not mere political gimmicks. They are mostly done to get rid of traffic snarls that leave people stranded and paralyse business activities.

    But there are no such threats in Ado-Ekiti, at least for now, to warrant the construction of a flyover, particularly when the move is certain to compound the woes of a people to whom the state government has not been able to fulfill a responsibility as basic as the monthly wages of workers. Any honest analyst will admit that there are more vehicles in Lagos, for instance, than there are people in Ado-Ekiti.

    It is amazing how grossly the governor is at loss with realities in his choice of priority projects for a state with a predominant population of civil servants whose salaries and emoluments have not been paid for months. The flyover brouhaha is coming months after similar protests by farmers whose lands were forcibly acquired by the state government for an airport project. Why, for crying out loud, would Ekiti make an airport a priority project with existing airports in Ibadan and Lagos? Of what commercial value will an airport in Ado-Ekiti be to airlines, considering that very few passengers are likely to be secured on that route?

    A major problem with governance in Nigeria is that our rapacious leaders commit the little resources they spare for the public to physical structures even when there are more compelling needs for non-physical ones, just because they think it is the easiest way to give the public the impression that they are working. Thus they will rather commit resources to roads and bridges because they are very easily seen than commit same to drugs for hospitals or laboratory equipment for schools because such expenditures would not easily advertise their governments as performing ones.

    I found an example of this in Katsina State in 2007 when the media house I once worked with deployed me to the state to monitor the governorship election that ushered in the immediate past governor, Ibrahim Shema. A visitor to Katsina, the state capital, could not have been more impressed with the pristine conditions of the township roads. The nylon-tarred roads that crisscrossed the city made driving a delight. But I later noticed the desperation with which people were raking water from gutters around the city and I became curious. Upon enquiry, I discovered that the gutters were the people’s main source of the water they needed for domestic use. While water was the most critical need of the majority of the city’s inhabitants, the government chose to spend all the money on roads because it was sure that roads would make better advertisement than boreholes.

    In Ekiti where hunger is on the loose because the government cannot pay its civil servants or honour its obligations to contractors, the situation is no less appalling. The story is told of how famished indigenes of the state are stealing pots of amala their neighbours keep on fire, but the governor thinks the critical needs of the people are airport and flyovers. Pity.

     

  • Fayose, Ikpeazu differ on PDP’s peace move

    Fayose, Ikpeazu differ on PDP’s peace move

    Two governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday disagreed on the peace move announced by the two feuding factions of the party led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

    The two factions of the party had on Tuesday announced their decision to bury the hatchet and work together in order to enable the party perform its role as a viable opposition platform.

    Both factions disclosed their intention to embark on extensive consultations with their respective loyalists to fashion out a way to cement the new unity after about four months of bitter rivalry.

    Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, who spoke separately on the issue with State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, differed on the necessity of the reconciliation move.

    While Fayose rejected it and stressed that it is only the Court of Appeal that can resolve the party’s leadership crisis, Ikpeazu described it as a step in the right direction.

    According to Fayose, the PDP state governors have not been briefed on the reconciliation move while the cases in court have not been withdrawn.

    He said: “That move, you see, I’m not against anything called resolution within the party but everybody must wait for Court of Appeal to resolve this matter.

    “Matters are in court, nobody has withdrawn any matter and they are resolving. What are you resolving?

    “When matters are in court you, allow court to lay them to rest. The moment this thing doesn’t go with one side, they will tell you were are still in court.

    “But allow the court to take a stand and reconciliation would be made easy. I’m not against anybody reconciling with each other but when you see that meeting, ask the coverners if governors were briefed.

    “I was not briefed. I am not the only person in the party but I then I have a stake.”

    On whether the cases in court cannot be withdrawn during reconciliation, he replied: “Let’s wait till then. But my opinion is the Court of Appeal must resolve this matter.

    “When you resolve the matter, you know that I am wrong and I you are right and reconciliation will be made easy.” He said

    Abia governor said that the new reconciliation move will be a victory for the party and Nigeria at the end of the day.

    Noting that the long period of the crisis had taken a toll on the party, he said that it had also provided it with new opportunities to become stronger.

    Ikpeazu said: “In every crisis there are downsides because nobody will wish and pray for crisis. I think also that moment of crisis are also opportunities for strength, renewed vigor and to reinvent our vision.

    “So, ultimately, I think the PDP has the resilience and what it takes to bounce back as a party.”

    On how to secure the support of its founding fathers and others who may have left the party, he said the party will work to bring everybody back on board.

    He went on: “There is no doubt that party politics everywhere involves everybody whether you are a founding father or a new member. Political party is built around people and everybody has equal stake.

    “Our interest is Nigeria. Therefore, all strata of people, opinion I think will be put into consideration because they are equally important.

    “The important thing is Nigeria and the important thing is democracy. Whether you are a BoT member or a party person, it doesn’t really matter. PDP Governors Forum is not political party.” He added

  • Ekiti cuts relationship with bank over Fayose’s frozen accounts

    Ekiti cuts relationship with bank over Fayose’s frozen accounts

    EKITI State Governor Ayo Fayose has ordered the state to stop transacting business with  Zenith Bank.

    The action is not unconnected with the face-off between him and Zenith on the freezing of his personal accounts domicilled in thebank by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    According to a circular from the Office of the Accountant General on Tuesday, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must comply with the order within 48 hours.

    The circular was addressed to the head of Service, permanent secretaries, general managers, administrative secretaries, heads of Non-Ministerial Departments and agencies and tertiary institutions.

    The MDAs and institutions have begun implementation of the order to meet up with the deadline.

    The circular, which was signed by the Accountant General, Mrs. O.O. Owolabi, is titled: “Stoppage of banking relationship with the Zenith Bank Plc.”

    It reads: “The state government has directed immediate stoppage of all banking relationships with Zenith Bank.

    “All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are expected to adhere strictly to this instruction and sever transaction with the bank within 48 hours.

    “By extension, workers’ salaries cease to be remitted to salary accounts domicilled with the bank forthwith. They are, therefore, advised to supply alternative bank accounts with their respective MDAs for transmission to this office within 60 days.

    “Kindly, give the contents of this circular the widest publicity it deserves. The governor is poised to address the state on the matter in due course. Thank you.”

    The fear of job loss has gripped Ekiti indigenes working in the bank, especially the main Ado-Ekiti branch on Secretariat Road and the campus branch at Ekiti State University (EKSU).

    The workers are apprehensive of a repeat of the backlash of Fayose’s strained relationship with Ecobank, which led to the shutdown of the bank’s two branches.

    Ecobank sacked scores of Ekiti indigenes following the government’s crackdown, and closed its operations.

    The EFCC on May 24 froze two Zenith Bank accounts belonging to Fayose for alleged   laundering of about N1.2 billion believed to be part of the arms fund from the ex-National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.)

    The cash was allegedly released to the governor to fund his campaign in the 2014 governorship election.

    Fayose claimed Zenith Bank funded his campaign but the bank denied the allegation.

    The governor sued the EFCC and the bank at the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti, seeking an order to de-freeze the account, which the court declined.

    The matter was adjourned till September 30.

     

  • Fayose, Ize-Iyamu and Edo guber election

    There must be some extraordinary milestones in the journey of a people at which point their leaders periodically pause for deeper reflections; it is expected that at such moments, that those invested with the responsibility of guiding the destiny of their communities will abstain, even temporarily , from the seduction of political theatres, that no responsible leader would deliberately seek to overheat the political landscape, to saturate civil discourse with mendacious tales manufactured to mislead the electorate and, consequently ignite civil disorder. Such a minimum conduct should be a binding obligation especially in circumstances where the situation could trigger a state of insecurity in the polity. After all, one of the foremost tasks of governance is the protection of lives and property of the citizenry.

    Regrettably, it seems that such a refined paradigm of humane contemplation in public affairs is far beyond the horizon of the likes of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. Fayose, who has become a noxious embarrassment to Ekiti and even to some members of his own political party, recently, swam across Rivers Ogbese and Osei to pollute the waters of Edo State. As events relating to security reports and, consequently, hints of possible postponement of Edo State’s 2016 Governorship Election were unfolding, Fayose immediately took on the role of a harbinger for doomsday. On the fateful Wednesday, September 7 , the news ‘breaking ‘ all over Edo State that grave security reports available to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Police could necessitate a change in the gubernatorial election date from Saturday, September 10 to some weeks later.

    As most responsible leaders in alliance with peace and democracy-loving people of Edo State patiently waited to comprehend the rapidly evolving scenarios from INEC and the security agencies, the all-knowing ‘Fayoses’ of the world had jumped on the drama stage, beating the drum of tension.  Fayose along with some other famously discredited PDP voices engaged in jaundiced analysis of the unfolding situation and offered lugubrious conclusions. In his desperate quest for central relevance in the 2019 national PDP calculus, Fayose completely threw caution to the winds, not giving any thoughts to the consequential harm that his comments could inflict on the polity.

    He hastily told the media that the postponement of Edo election was an APC plot for the purpose of perfecting its rigging strategy. How can a state chief executive make such a potential crisis- generating statement without a shred of evidence? While it is a disappointing conduct, the theatrics is not totally surprising. The governor with apparent psychopathic penchant for verbal recklessness and shameless demagoguery further said that the APC was about to destroy the ‘’ legacy of free, fair and credible electoral process bequeathed on the country by the PDP’’. On what planet has Fayose been dwelling in the past 16 years? For anyone to so endow the PDP with the attributes of qualitative and virtuous democracy is the zenith of historical impunity. Coincidentally , the ‘Fayoses’ of our polity wallowed in the planet of impunity for decades until some wise ‘Asiwajus’ and other committed national patriots created an unprecedented African model of responsible opposition alliance called the APC.

    Governor Fayose and the likes of Edo State factional PDP governorship candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu are engaged in hallucinatory flights and hoping to block the surging wave of progressive history. Ize –Iyamu, former Chief of Staff and later Secretary to the State Government in the remarkable fiasco called Lucky Igbinedion’s regime (1999-2007), is trying to garner political credits by imputing murky motives for the postponement of the Saturday 10 election. Ize-Iyamu ought to understand that the attempt by the PDP to manufacture conspiracy tales out of the postponement cannot displace the authentic narratives of the wreckage of the vandalized lives and economy that he (Ize-Iyamu) left behind as ‘’co-governor’’ under Lucky Igbinedion.

    Edo voters will not suddenly abandon the issues of deficit of trust for PDP; their memory will not suddenly be wiped out on how their salaries and pensions lagged in arrears and situations of whole communities cut off from neighbours during raining season due to poor state of the roads. Their reflection will remain vibrant on how their children were cramped into dilapidating structures called schools under Ize-Iyamu-Igbinedion government and how such major assets like the Bendel Brewery, Bendel Feed and Flour Mills as well as Bendel Line were either used to obtain huge loans which was rechannelled to private pockets or sold to enrich some individuals. That was the past under PDP and Ize-Iyamu is yet to honestly explain how the future will be different under his government.

    Therefore, the attempt to make the postponement of the election the central issue for the voters is an illusory political adventure that will end up in a landslide defeat of the PDP on September 28.

    It appears that Fayose has forged a blood pact with Ize-Iyamu in the effort to destabilize Edo State since both are allegedly inspiring disorderly reaction to INEC’s decision to postpone the election.

    It is understandable that both Fayose and Ize-Iyamu will see common ground in their approach to INEC’s decision; the two PDP members are beneficiaries of the odiously unforgettable culture of impunity under former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Fayose is yet to give credible accounting for the billions of naira allegedly plundered from Nigeria’s security vote and, smuggled through Akure airport into the governor’s custody. Some of the loot was supposedly funnelled into Fayose’s re-election bid in 2014. And this is the same Fayose who is now alleging that the APC was destroying the legacy of democracy because INEC gave considerate weight to serious intelligence estimate by the DSS and the Police regarding Edo election.

    Is the Dasuki-Fayose four billion naira mafia-like money laundering operation the standard practice for the kind of democratic legacy that our nation should preserve? Like Fayose, Ize-Iyamu is yet to comprehensively respond to allegations of an estimated one-billion naira, also from ‘’ Dasuki’s Central Bank ATM ‘’. The people of Edo State are still left with puzzling questions about the exact role of the factional PDP candidate as the identified principal character in the approximate one billion naira scandal. It must be said that Fayose has no redeeming political value just like Ize-Iyamu, both of them are birds of identical plumage and would therefore flock on similar flight of political disaster.

    With the postponement of the election, (protesting) parents of children scheduled to write WAEC initially on the same date felt some sense of relief for their children. APC was ready for the election hence the party held it’s very successful grand finale rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium on Tuesday September 6 with an unprecedented crowd of party supporters and APC leaders across the country in attendance.

    From the ward level to the senatorial apex, the organizational machinery of the party was in top gear and calibrated for overwhelming victory. APC governorship candidate Godwin Obaseki however told supporters in a message that while he was formidably confident that APC would have indisputably emerged victorious on that Saturday, he does not wish to put the” lives of voters and the general population at risk for any reason’’.

    For Ize-Iyamu and Fayose, it seems that they would rather jettison the advice of the security agencies and ‘bully’ INEC to hold a poorly-supervised election with NYSC members refusing to cooperate because of deficient security arrangements.

    September 28 is here already;  the trajectory of the Rainbow of victory steadily points in the direction of the APC, none of these hallucinatory somersaults by the Ize-Iyamus and Fayoses will change the resolute determination of Edo people to vote for a continuing energetic march on the terrain of progress. There will be no going back to the years of bondage under the PDP.

  • Party to Fayose: you’re a threat to democracy

    Party to Fayose: you’re a threat to democracy

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has risen in stout defence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was accused by Governor Ayo Fayose as being “the major problem of the country”.

    According to the APC, the allegation made by Fayose in a statement on Sunday was borne out of fear of his impending day of reckoning when he would face the law for the alleged infractions against the constitution and official corruption.

    A statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said rather than describing Buhari as the nation’s problem, Fayose had proved conclusively that he and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), represented the threat to democracy.

    Olatunbosun said the governor’s records in the  practice of democracy cast a blot on Nigeria’s integrity as a democracy hub, where economic growth thrived on the observance of the rule of law and transparent conduct of government business.

    “During his first term between 2003 and 2006, all international development agencies operating in Ekiti State, including the World Bank and British DFID, relocated from Ekiti when the agencies could no longer cope with the opaque manner Fayose was conducting government’s business in relation to the agencies’ partnership with his administration,” he said.

    Olatunbosun said the whole world was outraged when Fayose allegedly invaded the court in September 2014 to stop delivery of judgment on his perjury case.

    He alleged that the governor attacked the judges with thugs and tore their coats while court records in the Chief Judge’s office were torn into shreds after beating his secretary “blue and black” and windows and doors of the court destroyed.

    The statement added: “If today Buhari drops his anti-corruption war, Fayose will throw a lavish party to celebrate an open  cheque to Ekiti treasury.”

    He said: “Again, Fayose’s name rang around the world when he masterminded the greatest electoral fraud in history, mobilising the military for treason to menace the opposition, compromising INEC by illegally obtaining its sensitive materials and drawing on the nation’s defence vote to manipulate his election in what is Nigeria’s greatest electoral blues known as Ekitigate.”

    “Fayose is criticising the President again because more illicit wealth of his associates in the looting of Nigeria is being exposed…

    “The greatest fear that always rattles the ‘fearless’ Fayose is whenever a looter is uncovered by the Federal Government because he knows what is coming for him after the EFCC traced billions of illegal funds to his frozen accounts.

     

  • Fayose distributes rams

    Fayose distributes rams

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has distributed rams to Muslim clerics and faithful to celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir festival.

    Fayose said the gesture was aimed at giving adherents of Islamic religion a sense of belonging, and to identify with them at the festive season.

    Speaking yesterday while distributing rams to beneficiaries, Fayose urged them to pray for the country to overcome its prevailing economic challenges.

    Fayose urged Christians and Muslims to join hands to lift the nation out of the woods and restore its glory in the comity of nations.

    He said: “Help us pray to God to restore our glory because the country is entrapped, and we should pray to Allah to deliver us from this situation.

    “Leaders should do the needful, and direct followers to abide by that. We must not use our positions to oppress others because they are not toeing our ways.

    “We must change our ways and practise our religion as a Christian or Muslim faithfully.”

  • Fayose grazing law

    Fayose grazing law

    •A signal effort to bring order into the chaos in cattle grazing 

    Governor Ayodele Fayose’s recent signing into law of Ekiti State Assembly’s bill to prohibit cattle and other ruminants grazing randomly in Ekiti State marks an incipient effort to regulate centuries-old tradition of pre-modern cattle farming in the country. The law should be a call to other states and the Federal Government to come to terms with the imperatives of modern agriculture in the country.

    The grazing law, which took effect from the day of signing, includes the following: mapping out lands in the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State for grazing; outlawing cattle, sheep, goats, and other ruminants grazing outside of lands designated for grazing and ranching in the state; restriction of movement of cattle, sheep, and goats by herdsmen to the hours between 7 am and 6 pm; and forbidding nomadic pastoralists from grazing with arms and other weapons and making violators subject to prosecution and imprisonment if found guilty.

    As is expected in a federal democracy, the law has already ignited reactions from various sectors of the country. While spokespersons of states that had experienced loss of many lives: Ekiti, Benue, Plateau, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Kaduna, and socio-cultural organisations such as Afenifere, Afenifere Renewal Group, and Ohaneze Ndigbo have hailed this law, others such as Arewa Consultative Forum have warned about dangers inherent in a state law that may contravene rights of citizens to movement in any part of the federation. Anti-grazing spokespersons are already warning that the constitution recognises the rights of citizens rather than the rights of cattle.

    It is the view of The Nation that the law has raised important issues that deserve national attention and dialogue about the most effective way for Africa’s largest multiethnic democracy to sustain peaceful and harmonious co-existence of its various nationalities and their cherished values. Just as the constitution and all rights of citizens expect responsibilities on behalf of those exercising such rights, so is it important for those in positions of political leadership to consider the good intention to save lives and protect the environment as dispassionately as possible.

    For too long, conflicts and clashes between farmers and nomadic pastoralists had caused avoidable tension in the country, pitting people in different sections of the country against each other. Killings of farmers by herdsmen and destruction of their farms, as well as killing of cattle by frustrated plant/vegetable farmers has gone on for too long and without identification and prosecution of people involved in such crimes. Such needless killings have obviously created unwarranted inter-ethnic fears in various sections of the country, which in turn have caused avoidable inter-ethnic suspicion and animosity.

    Ekiti State’s attempt to regulate animal grazing is a needed step in the right direction, especially in its recognition of the need to formally designate specific areas for grazing and allocate such areas to properly documented cattle owners and their employees. The law, like all laws, may not be perfect. For example, charging carriers of unused arms and weapons with terrorism can scare non-criminal nomadic farmers from taking advantage of lawful grazing areas, but what the law signals must not be missed by federal and state lawmakers: regulation of activities that have the potential to lead to instability and loss of innocent lives, if left to go away on its own, as this problem has been for long. The grazing law should be seen for what it is: a call for action on all stakeholders for immediate rational response to a national problem that requires a high sense of responsibility and self-preservation by all.

    The Nation believes there is no better opportunity than the one presented by the grazing law to regulate an agricultural practice that is overdue for modernisation. Relatedly, the commitment of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to agricultural revolution through modernisation of all sectors of agriculture  provides enough justification for re-orienting traditional animal farmers to accept new methods of cattle farming. Governments at all levels should encourage cattle owners to acquire land for ranching. The 21st century is not the time for those engaged in farming as private business to insist that tradition take precedence over modern methods of cattle breeding, from which large exporters of beef and dairy products, such as Argentina, South Africa, Canada, the United States of America, Australia and Mexico, have benefited immensely.

    Change, as the old saying goes, is the only thing that is permanent in human affairs. Ekiti State has signalled to others that the challenge to improve animal farming through proper legislation and regulation should not be left to chance, as has been the case for too long at the expense of the country’s economy and inter-ethnic harmony.

     

     

  • Fayose to demolish more houses for flyover project

    Fayose to demolish more houses for flyover project

    Ekiti Ambassadors deplore ‘poor governance’

    AN interest group based in Ekiti State, the Ekiti Ambassadors, has expressed regret that the state hitherto regarded as land of people of integrity, virtue and honour has become a laughing stock for alleged poor governance and misplacement of priorities.

    It said events in the state had brought shame to Ekiti and made its people to be regarded as third-class citizens in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

    Addressing a news conference in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday, its President, Owoola Daramola, said the trend in Ekiti must be reversed as the 2018 governorship election draws nearer.

    Daramola, who was supported by other members of the body’s executive committee, said “people are suffering and don’t need grandiose projects, such as a flyover being constructed by the Ayo Fayose administration”.

    He contended that majority of Ekiti citizens need good jobs, and not a flyover being constructed when civil servants are owed five-month arrears of salaries.

    Daramola said the search for the right person to occupy the governorship seat must begin now, saying Ekiti people need “a man of integrity, virtue and honour, an honest man of wisdom, with strength of character and passionate about Ekiti development”.

    He said: “We need somebody, who is conversant with the politico-economic history, who will revert and reverse the sad story of Ekiti land. We need somebody that is part of the system, who understands the people, who knows how and what the people feels.

    “Somebody who has investment and interest at home; somebody who will make Ekiti a place of envy and honour. We need somebody that will lay the foundation of future political-economic leadership, growing, nurturing and maintaining it for generations yet unborn.

    “Our position is that the head of the next administration would be someone with ties with us in Ekiti; someone that understands what we feel and what we need; someone that shares the same cultural and traditional ties with us; someone genuinely dedicated and devoted to serving the public.”

    The Ekiti Ambassadors boss said the group would work with some non-governmental and civil society organisations to begin massive enlightenment of voters to make the right choice and desist from collecting rice, salt, money and other forms of inducement from politicians.

    Daramola added: “Ekiti has become a laughing stock in the comity of states in Nigeria and to the outside world. Political parties must put their house in order and go back to the grassroots to rebuild their structures.”

     

  • Ekiti to demolish more houses for flyover project

    Ekiti to demolish more houses for flyover project

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has revealed his readiness to demolish more houses in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, to pave way for the ongoing construction of a flyover.

    Speaking on Monday evening during this month’s edition of his media chat, Meet Your Governor, aired on the major electronic media in the state, Fayose said the demolition exercise will commence on September 12.

    Fayose said the demolition of houses along the flyover route was to construct road beside the bridge to ease mobility and traffic.

    He, however, apologized to the residents, motorists, pedestrians and commuters coming in and out of Ado Ekiti for the inconveniences being experienced over the construction of flyover.

    He said, “From next Monday, houses will be demolished for the road construction to complement the flyover. We are also going to demolish buildings constructed along flood plains.”

    The governor said there would be a low-key celebration of the 20th anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State on October 1 and the second anniversary of his administration on October 16.

    He said: “We will have a very low-key celebration; if it is only prayer we will organize to mark the day. We are going to do it because of the current economic situation of the state. We must live within the ambit of our resources.”

    The governor vowed not to relent in his efforts to change the face of Ado Ekiti, saying the decision to take traders using wheelbarrow to market their wares off the streets was to ensure sanity.

    Fayose also promised to organize free eye tests, free blood tests and free blood pressure tests for residents in all the 16 local government areas of the state to boost health care delivery of citizens.