The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fayose

  • ‘Fayose has muzzled legislature’

    ‘Fayose has muzzled legislature’

    Human rights lawyer Morakinyo Ogele has accused Governor Ayo Fayose of muzzling the legislature and the judiciary in Ekiti State.

    Ogele said the principle of separation of power has been eroded in Ekiti with the other two arms of government rendered prostrate.

    At a briefing in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital yesterday, Ogele alleged that Fayose harassed and intimidated members of the House of Assembly to pass a resolution asking the Olukere of Ikere-Ekiti, Oba Ganiyu Obasoyin, to stop parading himself as a monarch.

    Ogele, the monarch’s lawyer, said the governor did not allow the Committees on Public Petitions and Chieftaincy Matters to conclude their assignments before  ordering them to pass the “controversial” resolution.

    He maintained that his client (Obasoyin) would never succumb to any threat from the Fayose administration, vowing to pursue the case to a logical conclusion.

  • APC urges IG to prosecute Fayose, others

    APC urges IG to prosecute Fayose, others

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State yesterday called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, to prosecute Governor Ayo Fayose and some police officers named in the alleged criminal manipulation of the June 21, 2014 governorship election.

    The police officers are Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Bala Nasarawa, former Ekiti Mobile Police (MOPOL) Commander, Gabriel Selenkere and others.

    According to a copy of the petition signed by the state  Chairman, Olajide Awe, the party requested Arase to investigate the roles of the police in the alleged poll fraud.

    The party wants Selenkere investigated for his alleged unprofessional conduct bordering on alleged dishonesty and violations of the police’s code of ethics.

    According to the petition entitled “Criminal Complaint Conspiracy, Bribery, Threats and Use of Military to Perpetuate Electoral Fraud Against the People of Ekiti State; Investigation of the role of the Nigerian Police Force in the Ekiti State Governorship Elections June 21, 2014,” the party brought Arase’s attention to the content of an audio tape detailing criminal acts planned by those mentioned or whose voices were captured in the tape.

    The party noted that on February 8, last year, the audio recording capturing the voices of Fayose, Commander of 32 Artillery Brigade, Bri-Gen Aliyu Momoh; Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Police Affairs Minister Jelili Adesiyan; former Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro and others,  at a meeting where they conspired and strategised to rig the election was released to the public.

    Awe said: “The import of this audio recording is the revelations of criminal acts, which were planned and perpetrated by these men.

    “The above listed persons conspired to tamper with the constitutionally and statutorily laid down procedure for the conduct of the election.”

    He said during the meeting, strategies and plans to intimidate voters and perform electoral fraud were discussed.

    But Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka said yesterday’s Supreme Court judgment on the leadership dispute within the Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), in which the court said it lacked jurisdiction to review its own judgment should be enough for APC members to stop living in the illusion that the Supreme Court judgment on the June 21, 2014 governorship election can be reviewed.

  • Ekitigate: APC urges IGP to prosecute Fayose

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has called on the Inspector -General of Police, Solomon Arase, to prosecute Governor Ayo Fayose and some police officers named in the alleged criminal manipulation of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state.

    The police officers the APC wants the IGP to investigate are Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Bala Nasarawa, former Ekiti Mobile Police (MOPOL) Commander, Gabriel Selenkere and others

    In a petition signed by the APC chairman in the state, Olajide Awe and made available to reporters in Ado Ekiti, the party requested Arase to investigate the roles of the police in the alleged poll fraud with specific investigation of AIG Nasarawa, who headed the police contingents that supervised the election.

    The party called for  Selenkere’s prosecution because of his alleged unprofessional conduct bordering on dishonesty and violations of the code of ethics of the Nigerian Police Force.

     

  • Fayose, PDP and tragedy of leadership

    SIR: It is a comic relief watching Governor Ayo Fayose in his usual cocky animation and garrulous temperament discrediting the former PDP ministers who raised an objection to the emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP chairman.

    The objection to Fayose’s choice was anchored on lack of consultation on one hand and Ali’s purported dalliance with the deranged elements known as Boko Haram.

    However the quotidian proclivity of the party to forge conservative positions through the nebulous “family affairs” has once again brought about a delicate closing of ranks thereby foreclosing an ample opportunity for propitiatory restitution in the face of dwindling public image perception.

    If Buhari’s reputation for perpendicular integrity, towering leadership exemplar and a patriotic determination to reinvent the wheel of progress is already an albatross to any credible opposition, how much more with an opposition romancing a questionable leadership?

    PDP’s strange choice predicated on the financial prowess of the new chairman has left voters with no other choice than sustain the present momentum for the next eight years.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    Victoria Island, Lagos.

  • Ekitigate: Monarchs deny rift with Fayose

    Ekitigate: Monarchs deny rift with Fayose

    The Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers has denied any rift with Governor Ayo Fayose over his feud with the embattled Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Tope Aluko, who blew the whistle on the alleged rigging of the June 21, 2014 governorship poll.

    The monarchs, at an emergency meeting yesterday at their council chambers in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, denied an online publication, alleging that Fayose compelled them through his Chief of Staff, Dipo Anisulowo, to write a joint communiqué to condemn Aluko’s expose on Ekitigate.

    According to them, the online publication mentioned the names of specific monarchs described as “the arrowhead of the anti-Governor Fayose stance”.

    The report, which has since gone viral on social media, was described by the monarchs as “libelous”.

    They demanded an immediate retraction of the publication and a published apology.

    The monarchs described the content of the said publication as a “blatant lie, a fabrication arising from the imagination of the writer and a deliberate attempt to smear the image of the traditional rulers”.

    The Chairman of the Council and the Ologotun of Ogotun Ekiti, Oba Samuel Oladapo Oyebade, who read a prepared speech without entertaining questions from reporters, admitted that it was true that they met on February 16 but the meeting was not attended by Anisulowo or any government official.

    Oyebade warned that traditional rulers should not be dragged into murky waters of politics under any guise.

    He said: “We note that the said online publication names specific traditional rulers as arrowhead of anti-Fayose’s stance.

    “Council says unequivocally that the content of that publication was a blatant lie, a fabrication arising from the imagination of the writer.

    “It was also a deliberate attempt to smear the image of the traditional rulers and pitch the government and the council against each other.”

    “It is true that a meeting of traditional rulers was held on February 16 but the meeting was never attended by Mr Dipo Anisulowo or any government official as quoted in the online publication.

    “We, therefore, say without mincing words that there is a cordial relationship between the government of Mr Ayodele Fayose and the traditional council. It is therefore our opinion that the publication was meant to embarrass our members.

    “Ekiti Council of Obas will not allow the traditional institution to be dragged into the murky water of politics.”

  • APC: Fayose has something to hide

    APC: Fayose has something to hide

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said Governor Ayo Fayose is afraid of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy because he has something to hide.

    The party expressed outrage at Fayose’s conduct “as the only governor opposed to the Federal Government’s transparency policy that his colleagues have embraced.”

    The opposition said Fayose has refused to disclose to the people the revenues generated from the various taxes and levies imposed on them, claiming that several “secret” accounts were opened.

    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC described Fayose’s rejection of TSA as “dangerous and reckless”, saying the governor’s aversion for accountability in financial matters is suspicious.

    Olatunbosun said: “TSA is aimed at ensuring that all government earnings are paid into a single account to ensure accountability and check fraud.

    “For a governor who describes himself as a friend of the poor to oppose a policy that will make the same poor people enjoy the benefits of transparent governance is the height of irresponsibility and a confirmation of allegations of fraud against him.”

    The APC scribe explained that the reason for Fayose’s opposition to TSA was to hide these details to perpetrate fraud, noting that there was no way the governor could have been paying the same bill former Governor Kayode Fayemi paid as wages to workers.

    “Fayose has no explanation to make to Ekiti people on how he spent N22billion refund on federal road projects, the N2billion ecological fund, several billions of naira statutory allocations to the state and LGAS and N9.1 bailout cash, among others.

    “We wish to draw the attention of Governor Fayose to the fact that Ekiti State cannot be an island in the country by refusing to abide with the financial regulations of the Federal Government

    “We call on all Ekiti citizens home and abroad to call the governor to order to stop his unnecessary belligerent attitude to the Federal Government simply because he belongs to the opposition.”

  • Like Fayose, like Wike, like SAS

    Show me your friends, goes that English saying, and I will tell you the person you are.

    That appears to have played out in the controversial announcement of the no less controversial former Senator Ali Modu Sheriff  aka SAS as new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    SAS’s coronation, which has sent a segment of the party hopping made, is a coup between the PDP national executive committee (NEC) and its governors.  Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, feckless and unimaginative at the best of times, has reportedly endorsed the move.  He called SAS “the right choice for the opposition”.  Dr. Jonathan’s patent political folly, which led to the PDP crash, appears set to undo any renaissance it may be dreaming of.

    In another section of the house divided against itself is the PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) and former ministerial appointees of Dr. Jonathan.  It appears another set of crisis within the once-upon-a-time self-proclaimed “Africa’s largest party”.

    But even among the governors that pulled the SAS coup, two stand out: Ekiti’s Ayo Fayose and Rivers’ Nyesom Wike.  Link both of them to SAS himself, and you can imagine the ruinous path PDP has chosen.

    Fayose bragged without end how he routed an incumbent in the Ekiti gubernatorial elections of 2014.  But the dirty revelations from Tope Aluko, on how that “win” was cooked, has exposed Fayose as another loud charlatan, professing democratic ethos.

    Wike, in the words of eminent lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, rode on the blood and limbs of the slain to power.  Despite the Supreme Court’s validation of his rotten election, it is clear who is on the moral defensive — the governor or critics of his so-called election.  As it was in the beginning of “militancy” that turned criminality in the Southsouth, armed enforcers, used and dumped by politicians in previous election, became the armed pest to their own people.  That sorry history is about to repeat itself in Wike’s Rivers.

    Link Wike’s probable progression to SAS’s chartered path in infamy, and what you have in your hands is a clincher.  SAS used armed muggers to “win” election in Borno.  But his attempt at use-and-dump led to the Boko Haram crisis, after the first Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was slain in police detention.

    And did you catch SAS’s victory whoop?  “By the grace of Allah, nothing will deter this party from going to Aso Rock in 2019,” he enthused.  “This my long cap is prepared to lead my colleagues and brothers to Aso Rock, Insha Allah.”!

    No qualms about the gridlock PDP’s 16-year misrule has caused.  No thinking about the integrity-deficiency of its many hierarchs, now facing corruption trials.  Absolutely no thought about the legendary incompetence of the last commander-in-chief the PDP inflicted on the country.  And, of course, millions of innocent Nigerians, grand victims of this misrule, absolutely don’t matter.

    What matters is power, power and p-a-w-a!  A deluded party, boasting all-power-no-brain?

    By the way, where does SAS’s ascendancy leave the now loudly quiet Olisa Metuh and his Janjaweed philosophy?  Or is SAS no longer Metuh’s sponsor of Boko Haram?

  • Fayose hails judiciary for ‘saving democracy’

    Fayose hails judiciary for ‘saving democracy’

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has praised the judiciary for restoring the mandate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors. He said the victory has saved the country’s democracy.

    Speaking in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, at the thanksgiving for Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Fayose said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) wanted to scuttle democracy by stealing the mandate of the PDP governors.

    Fayose, who spoke on behalf of five other PDP governors, assured Ikpeazu that they will always identify with him, adding that he should not disappoint his people.

    He said the people were yet to see the change they were tricked into voting for, noting that “true change will only come to the country and its people when PDP takes over the rulership of the country come next elections.”

    His words: “When you look for change in the present administration you can only get one chance, which has made the people to keep waiting for the expected change to come.

    “How can we have change when the electricity tariff will go up without any increase in power generation and poor service, then if the expected change comes, the people will really suffer.”

    New National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff said the party is marching to Aso Rock, come next elections, stressing that every party member is ready for the move.

    Sheriff said when the party rolls out its master plan, the incumbent ruling APC will run back to wherever it came from.

    He said the crowd present at the Umuahia township stadium shows that the governor won the election. “This crowd shows that we won the election clearly and the results were not written.”

    Deputy National Chairman Uche Secondus called for special prayers for the country. “This country needs prayers for it to move forward.

    “We need prayers as PDP members are being hounded every day, their home broken into by members of the ruling party for nothing. I want to warn those being used that they are gradually turning this country into a police state.”

    Governor Ikpeazu described his victory as a victory for all, which will bring unity and equity based on the Abia Charter of Equity which was written by its founding fathers.

    “The victory is about the state and its people, and about what God wants to do in Abia through me and people of like minds”.

    He hinted that several roads in Aba were ready for commissioning while rural electrification is being provided for all, irrespective of political inclination.

    Governors at the service included Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), among others.

  • Budget should be withdrawn, says Fayose

    Budget should be withdrawn, says Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has said the sack of former Director General (Budget) Yahaya Gusau by President Muhammadu Buhari is not enough to address the controversies generated by the budget.

    Gusau has since been replaced with Tijani Ahmed.

    The governor insisted that the budget must be withdrawn from the National Assembly and a new and error-free re-presented before it is signed into law.

    He said sacking one or two persons won’t remove “the stain on the budget” caused by alleged padding with strange figures which has caused the Federal Government embarrassment.

    Fayose in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, contended that the 2016 Budget required a holistic approach and not just making of a scapegoat.

    He said: “I wonder how Nigeria can operate on a budget already disowned by notable ministers, including the government’s spokesperson.

    “Or what remedy can anyone do to a budget in which 2015 budgetary allocations of an agency was reproduced verbatim? Even N180 million was discovered to have been allocated to NIMET twice.”

  • Fayose to workers: Strike and lose your salaries

    Fayose to workers: Strike and lose your salaries

    Government workers in Ekiti State who embark on strike without following due process should be ready to lose their salaries during such industrial action, Governor Ayo Fayose has warned.

    Fayose gave the warning yesterday evening in Ado Ekiti while appearing on his monthly media chat, Meet Your Governor.

    He also denied awarding contracts for the construction of Erekesan Market, Airport and flyover to his children, family members and cronies.

    Fayose’s latest hard stance was coming on the heels of a two-day warning industrial action by primary school teachers last week to protest non-payment of September 2014 salaries and 2014 leave bonus.

    According to him, the state would henceforth divert salaries of striking workers to those ready to show concerns and understanding with the parlous economic situation of the state.

    He said: ”Since I came back, Ekiti is financially challenged. I have not hidden the financial position of the state from workers, particularly the teachers, because they are the set of people I have shown so much love for.

    “I celebrate them on annual basis. Even during my first term, people called me Teachers’ Governor due to my love for them.

    “But the strike they embarked on recently could have been resolved without any crisis if we had dialogued.

    “They said respect beget respect. Every worker in the state knew how much Ekiti takes after FAAC in Abuja because I used to lay it bare on the table.

    “We should also know that the people who are not salary earners must be taken care of. We can’t be paying salary and neglect other people from having access to facilities like good roads, good water supply and this market I just flagged.

    “So, I enjoin the workers to show some level of understanding that we have to balance the two, I mean paying salary as the money comes and also help the masses as well.

    “There is nowhere in the world where the entire budgetary provision will be centre around recurrent expenditure.”

    On the recent visit to his Osun State counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola, Fayose said: “Governor Aregbesola is my very good friend. It is only in Nigeria where two friends in different political parties won’t be free to greet each other.

    “My visit to governor Aregbesola is in Yoruba’s interest.

    “We have to forget about our political differences and build Yoruba into a huge political force in Nigeria.”