The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fayose

  • Fayose bans tipper owners

    Fayose bans tipper owners

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has banned tipper owners from operating in the state, following their refusal to comply with the new N1,000 per trip tax imposed on them.

    The governor also banned sand excavation in the state, following alleged reported cases of destruction of farmlands, farm produce and other valuables.

    The government had been on air since Tuesday to announce the ban.

    Commissioner for Environment Bisi Kolawole claimed that his ministry received complaints from farm owners, claiming that tipper operators had been destroying their crops.

    Tippers have disappeared from Ado Ekiti and other communities, with residents needing their services hard-hit.

    Union members planned a public protest yesterday but were persuaded to shelve the action by the police and Department of State Services (DSS), citing “unfavourable security reports”.

    But Fayose, in a chat with reporters in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday justified the ban, saying the tipper operators must pay tax and obey the law.

    He said: “They have to obey the law of the land. How can someone be operating here in Ekiti and refuse to pay tax?

    “We cannot run government without money. Apart from tax default, some of their trucks  have no particulars, no headlamps and no brakes. They are also destroying our farmlands and vegetation. We won’t tolerate these.”

  • Court stops Fayose from ejecting tenants

    Court stops Fayose from ejecting tenants

    An Ado-Ekiti High Court has restrained the Ekiti State government and its Housing Corporation from ejecting the embattled residents of Irewolede Estate, pending its ruling on December 9.

    Governor Ayo Fayose served a notice to eject those who fail to complete their mortgages  by November 30. The defaulters were to be ejected from yesterday.

    Those ejected on August 5 were reinstated, following intervention of monarchs  and prominent citizens of the state.

    The residents approached the court to enforce their rights when the Housing Corporation, acting on the governor’s instruction, asked them to complete their mortgage within one month instead of the five to 15 years in their agreement.

    The government, thereafter, gave the residents a respite of three months to pay up or be ejected. The ultimatum expired on November 30.

    The residents prayed the court to restrain the Housing Corporation from further ejecting or harassing them, pending the determination of the matter.

    While the matter was pending before Justice Bamidele Omotoso of High Court 7, the Housing Corporation issued revocation letters and gave them seven days to vacate their property.

    This prompted another application by the residents through their counsel, R. O Balogun, praying for the nullification of the revocation letters.

    They asked that the general manager of the Housing Corporation be committed to prison for contempt of court.

    The court, after taking the application for interlocutory injunction filed by their counsel, Rafiu Balogun, adjourned ruling till December 9.

    When the judge’s attention was drawn to the threat to forcefully eject the residents on December 1, the court warned the government not to undermine the court’s integrity or destroy the subject matter.

    Justice Bamidele Omotoso mandated the government’s lawyer to properly advise his client and order that the status quo be maintained, pending his ruling.

     

  • ‘How Fayose reneged on our deal’

    ‘How Fayose reneged on our deal’

    Dr. Temitope Aluko is the State Secretary of the 2012 elected State Executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State. A long standing ally of the state governor, Ayodele Fayose, he spoke to Remi Adelowo on the lingering feud between him and the PDP State Exco on one hand and the governor on the other and other issues

    Governor Ayodele Fayose recently marked his one year in office. As a major stakeholder, how would you assess him so far?

    Well, we have to thank God that PDP was able to produce the governor in 2014, and incidentally, I am also the State Secretary of the PDP, and I was also instrumental to helping to bring this government into place. However, the question to ask is: are we truly on course with what is known as the Ekiti Agenda? Are we on course with what is known as the Ekiti Project? That is the reference point which I will want Mr. Governor to truly address and properly focus on.

    What is the component of the Ekiti Agenda that you earlier talked about?

    The Ekiti Agenda is such that once you have a government in place, we want the government to do the best in the overall interest of the Ekiti people, given the meagre resources available.  So, we, under the Ekiti Agenda, want a governor that will not only recognise and respect the electorates, but one that will also fully carry the masses along in its entirety.

    You just harped on the need for any Ekiti governor to carry the masses along. The present governor is largely perceived as a man of the masses coupled with his philosophy of stomach infrastructure. Can you clarify your position?

    Honestly speaking, we have gone beyond that kind of stomach infrastructure in Ekiti. You should know that Ekiti is widely known as the Fountain of Knowledge. Stomach infrastructure is not such that you now give somebody, something whose value is less than N500 once a year, and you now celebrate that, and you now say that is stomach infrastructure.

    Does this not mean that the relationship between the two of you is no longer cordial as being speculated?

    I would just say that when I was working for him in the build up to the governorship election, it was very convenient for him not to see my mistakes. But now, and immediately after the election, we now found out all sorts of things, and some of them may be considered hearsays, because he had never opened up for once to tell me anything of such to my face. But we know that we had a covenant. We know that we used the Bible to make a covenant between the two of us and he has not abided by that covenant. But to your question, our relationship cannot be cordial, because how can he infringe on the constitution of our party by setting up a parallel State Working Committee, which he unilaterally appointed as against our own State Working Committee which was elected in 2012 with a four year mandate. It was this same elected exco that worked assiduously to work and do everything possible to ensure his return to the party and also worked tirelessly to make his victory at the governorship election possible.

    What efforts have been made to resolve your differences?

    Frankly speaking, in the last four to five months, I have not seen him eye to eye, though we have been exchanging correspondences.

    Could it be that members of the exco suddenly became too powerful considering your roles in Governor Fayose’s emergence and he felt the need to cut you to size?

    If that is the angle he is looking at it, there are ways he could have handled it. You see, when you don’t listen to my position and I don’t listen to yours, it means you are not thinking. But when you are thinking, it means we are listening to each other, and when we listen to each other, everybody will be better off. I will gain from you and you will gain from me. But if you now think that this person is too powerful, or that person is too powerful, I want to say, honestly our governor should go back to his roots and start looking at the democratic process that set the stage for his emergence and respect such. In Ekiti right now, he has issues with the key components of the electorates. When we are talking about the key components, we are talking about party leaders, party members, we are talking about the market leaders, commercial bicycle riders, civil servants and local government staff.

    When you and others decided to put your weight behind Governor Fayose, didn’t you foresee all of this happening?

    Like I had tried to show, we have had a perfect relationship. I have been with him in the last 40 years. I almost grew up with him. I was living in Felele, Ibadan and he was right there at Orita, Challenge. His father was more like my father’s brother. We call him Baba Orilonise. We know each other’s family. We had a perfect relationship. So there is no way one can predict the nature of a man. And he may be acting this way, maybe because he is doing his second term and he felt there is really nothing at stake again and he may simply be feeling, ‘Who the hell are they. I don’t need them again’. But to me, that is never a good strategy to use in politics. But that is for him. But for me, as far as I am concerned, I want his government to succeed because it is our party that produced him.

    With all you have said so far, are you not corroborating the belief of the governor that the elites are the real problem of the state?

    I want to correct that impression. I told him once, I said, ‘if you are saying the Ekiti elites are the ones derailing you, are you not part of the Ekiti elite? You have been governor once, and you are now governor again. And you have been playing politics at that level in the last 13 or 14 years, so if you are now talking about the elites, these elites should now be very close to you. Truth is, it is the governor that should reach out to the elites. It is our governor that should play the game right with the elites as well as with the electorates.

    You played a major role in the Ekiti governorship election in 2014 and that election set what had been termed a political record in Nigeria where a sitting governor was not only defeated, but was defeated in all the local governments.  How did it happen? How was this political feat achieved? What was the magic?

    In answering that question, I will just say here it is the secret of our party. It is our secret.

    So, why did you not share this same secret with your party at the national level during the last general elections to help it secure victory again?

    Well, maybe, just maybe, the major actors in the Ekiti PDP political landscape were not adequately represented at the national level to share that secret.

    What is your reaction to the recent statement credited to the military high command, that it is going to fully probe the role of its men in the 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States?

    I simply hope they are not really out to carry out a political witch-hunting with that exercise. I hope the planned exercise is not unconnected with politics and I also seriously hope it is not witch-hunting, because what comes to my mind instantly is the Akwa-Ibom and Rivers Tribunals when you suddenly hear a thing like this. And as a principal witness at the Ekiti Governorship Tribunal, the military were not listed as part of the tribunal proceedings. The military was never called to testify. The military never said all these then. I was a Principal Witness and the military was never there. I just hope it is yet not another witch-hunting exercise because no matter what, in democracy, we cherish what is ours.

    What actually kick-started this frosty relationship between you, other elected exco members and the governor?

    I would say after winning the election, then as the Governor-elect of Ekiti, we went round the South West, for South West mobilization and thank you rally. In Akure, there was a particular statement that Governor Ayodele Fayose made, which I have it on tape. He said ‘that now that he is governor, anybody who messes with him does so at his own peril’. So at that event, some of us, his key people that were always with him, exchanged glances. And we said to ourselves, we hope that this man has truly changed. Now looking back, I want to ask, where is Hon. Femi Bamisile? Where is Dr. TKO Aluko? Where is Chief (Mrs.) Ogunshakin? Where is Chief (Mrs.) Bola Oloyede? Where is Hon. Olugbemi, the former Speaker or the magical Speaker who stood firm and helped sustain the battle waged against Governor Fayose in the House of Assembly until he was sworn in? Where are all these powerful people?  Where are all these key leaders that were there for Governor Fayose then against all odds just about one year ago? So, the frosty relationship between the two of us may not just be peculiar to me.

    So in essence, you are saying the governor has not lived up to the tenets of the covenant you had with him?

    It is very obvious from all he had done so far. Why is Governor Fayose always a recurring issue in Ekiti State politics? He will always be so, because his traits are such that you cannot predict him.

    Considering the perceived feud between the elected exco and the governor, is there a room for reconciliation or is that foreclosed?

    No, it has not failed. Even the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party has intervened. The issue is more of the constitution of the party and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    There is a speculation that you are romancing with the APC?

    I am not romancing with the APC. That kind of speculation is being spread because of my strained relationship with the governor.

  • Fayose allays workers’ fear over ‘bleak’ Xmas

    Fayose allays workers’ fear over ‘bleak’ Xmas

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has allayed fears of an imminent bleak Christmas, following difficulties by his administration in paying salaries.

    Speaking yesterday during an interface with government workers in Efon Alaaye, the governor assured that the Yuletide would not be bleak for civil servants as “no effort would be spared to ensure that they get their salaries”.

    Fayose said: “This year’s budget did not meet expectations, especially in the area of capital expenditure, because of the poor revenue coming in from oil sale in the international market. The oil now sells for less than $40 per barrel.

    “Without being an economic expert, one can envisage a tough economic terrain next year. You know that I don’t hide things from you, the other day they said they have given out bail-out fund, I said it was not. It will amount to sheer deception for a leader to hide the true position of things from the people.

    “We are heading for a serious financial challenge next year, as there seems to be little hope for the economy bouncing back. Our administration has always put our finances in the open for all to see.

    “We are on this tour because we need to let you know what is happening. The power of the people is greater than the power of the leaders.”

    The governor, who also visited Aramoko in Ekiti West Local Government, ordered the setting up of a panel to look into the complaints by workers of over-deduction in their salaries concerning the payment for the laptops given teachers by the Fayemi administration.

     

  • Dasuki: Fayose urges Sultan to prevail on Buhari

    Dasuki: Fayose urges Sultan to prevail on Buhari

    The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has advised  the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar,  to prevail on President Buhari  not to allow abuse of human rights under his administration.

    While receiving  the Sultan in his office, Fayose accused Buhari of presiding over an emerging dictatorship.

    He condemned the house arrest of a Sokoto prince and former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) which he (Fayose) described as a “flagrant abuse of the Constitution and the rule of law” by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    The governor urged Sultan to prevail on President Buhari not to allow abuse of human rights under his administration, describing Dasuki’s house arrest as an example of injustice and human rights violation under the All Progressives Congress -led government.

    Dasuki is currently being probed over alleged mismanagement of N333 billion meant for the purchase of arms for the nation’s armed forces to contain the insurgency in the Northeast.

    The Sultan , however ,advised leaders in the country to discharge their duties with the fear of God, and work towards unity of people of different religious and political persuasions.

    The Sultan  who is also the  President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was in Ekiti to witness the installation of the state Grand Imam, Sheikh Jamiu Kewulere Bello as the new President General of League of Imams and Alfas in Southwest, Edo and Delta States.

    Abubakar charged Fayose to continue to carry the people along in his leadership role and treat all ethnic nationalities and religious organizations as equal entities,  for the state and Nigeria to move to a higher pedestal  in all spheres.

    Sultan said: “As leaders, we owe it a duty to lead by example and with the fear of God. If you are a leader, it is left for you to work your way to hell or heaven. God believes strongly in leadership, that is

    why people must continue to support them rather than fighting them.

    “I want Governor Fayose to treat all the various nationalities and religions in  Ekiti as one. You must be just in handling their affairs. When there is injustice, no development can take place. When we are just, then there will be security in the society.

    “I know that governor Fayose is well loved by the people, but he must continue to work hard for people and most importantly God to love him more.”

    Fayose replied: “I take the opportunity of your visit to bare my mind on some national concerns, particularly as it affects the unlawful incarceration of the former NSA, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki.

    “President Buhari has proved me right by my claims before the election that Nigeria is in the making of a dictator if he is voted into power.

    “By choosing which orders of the court to be obeyed, the President has exhibited his great disdain and disrespect to the judiciary as an independent arm of government and hope of the common man.

    “The continuous siege on the residence of the former NSA against a court order is a clear manifestation of fundamental human rights abuse.

    “If the president flouts Court orders with impunity, judicial independence will be fatally compromised and Nigeria’s embryonic democracy is in great danger. With this act, the President has left nobody in doubt that Dasuki cannot get fair hearing.

    “We hereby call on the international community to support independent human rights observers who are out to monitor former NSA’s prosecution and trial. President Buhari must honour his vow to follow due process and the rule of law.”

     

  • Kog poll: I was misquoted on Audu’s eligibility – Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has said he was misquoted over his comment on the eligibility of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the Kogi State governorship election, Prince Abubakar Audu, to take part in the poll.

    Fayose said the statement quoting him as saying Audu was not qualified to run for the Kogi election because of the corruption case hanging on his neck was not made by him.

    In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in Ado-Ekiti, Wednesday, Fayose said the statement he made during the grand finale of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Campaign Rally held in Lokoja, focused on the need to ensure a free and fair election in Kogi State.

    The governor said his comment has nothing to do with Audu, his former colleague, stressing that in law, every man is ‎adjudged innocent until proved otherwise by law court.

    He said: “I wish to state clearly that Alhaji Abubakar Audu has the right to contest.  The statement that he cannot contest was not made by me. What I said in Lokoja has nothing to do with Alhaji  Audu and I am not contesting his eligibility.

    “Alhaji Audu is my former colleague and I have a lot of respect for him.  In law, every man is assumed innocent until proved otherwise by law court.”

     

  • APC slams Fayose for comments on TSA

    APC slams Fayose for comments on TSA

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has berated Governor Ayo Fayose for alleging that the Muhammadu Buhari administration  diverted N25 billion from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to fund campaigns in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said Fayose’s opposition to the TSA was borne out of “ a desperate ploy to conceal fraud”.

    The party said Fayose’s vow to boycott the TSA meeting to be attended by all governors was “impunity taken too far and a smokescreen to cover up his fraudulent financial transactions”.

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

    “Many government accounts were used to perpetrate fraud as they were hidden by corrupt officials.

    “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.

    “We can now see the reason why the governor has opened several channels of revenue collections to be paid into several phony accounts.

    “We wish to draw his attention to the fact that Ekiti State cannot be an island by refusing to abide with the financial regulations of the Federal Government, failure of which the state can be penalised.

    “He will surely be punished for his demeanour and plethora of unguarded utterances unbecoming of any reasonable person. He is grabbing and pocketing every accrued internally generated revenue for personal use. He is living large and not accountable to anyone.

    “Fayose’s attempt to mislead the public by referring to the TSA as a fraud should be ignored. The bogus N25 billion mentioned by Fayose as the commission received by the handling company is not correct.

    “The truth is that the one percent commission received by the firm is cheaper than the commission previously charged and it is shared by the company, the commercial banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and this is backed by law.”

     

     

  • Anti-graft war targets only PDP members, says Fayose

    Anti-graft war targets only PDP members, says Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration does not respect the rule of law.

    Fayose, who spoke yesterday at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja, Kogi State, at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally, said the Buhari administration did not possess human rights credentials and was only chasing PDP members on corruption allegation.

    He asked where was President Buhari when the APC cleared ex-Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu to contest the governorship election when he was facing corruption charges?

    Fayose said: “The APC administration is dilly-dallying on the challenges confronting the nation. The Boko Haram insurgency and the economic situation have worsened in the last six months of the Buhari government.

    “This administration has only achieved a lot in the area of chasing shadows and making the nation bad for the people.”

     

    Former PDP National Chairman Alhaji Ahmadu Ali said the huge crowd was a testimony that PDP was still strong in the state.

    Governor Idris Wada, listing his achievements, said the party in the last 12 years had touched people’s lives through the provision of basic infrastructure.

    On the bailout loan, he said APC was playing politics with it, adding that it was not considering the workers, who are supposed to benefit from the fund.

     

  • Fayose to boycott meeting on TSA

    Fayose to boycott meeting on TSA

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose plans to boycott a meeting by the Federal Government with governors on the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    He said the state was not interested in the TSA policy,which he described as a fraud.

    The governor spoke at his 55th birthday thanksgiving service at the Government House.

    Fayose said he was grateful to God for His grace on his life, promising to rededicate himself to the service of God and mankind

    “I have passed through a lot of trying periods, but I thank God for his mercies. And I am grateful for a wife who stands in the gap for me always.

    “I appreciate all the people in my life, for without you there would be no Ayo Fayose,” he said.

    Maintaining that he will not attend the Federal Government’s meeting with governors on the TSA, the governor said the Federal Government cannot force its policies on states.

    “Ekiti State is entitled to its own policies and it is not under any obligation to accept Federal Government policies, especially the TSA.

    “I, therefore, wish to state categorically that Ekiti State is not interested in the TSA policy and since the state is not interested, I, as the custodian of the popular mandate of the people, will not attend any meeting called by the Federal Government on the TSA,” he said.

    Fayose said in a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said: “From all intent and purposes, this TSA policy is aimed at recouping money spent on the last general elections by the APC, as well as raise money for future elections, especially the Kogi and Bayelsa states elections.

    “It is also meant to enrich some individuals for doing virtually nothing and that can be seen from the discovery of N25 billion already accrued to just a single company in one month.

    “How can the Federal Government justify a transaction in which a single company gets one percent, amounting to N25 billion in one month?”

    System Specs, the owner of REMITA, has explained that it did not earn N25billion as alleged but N7.62 billion, which it refunded.

  • House names Fayose ‘opposition leader’

    House names Fayose ‘opposition leader’

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has said he is not afraid of going to jail to defend his conviction and ensure that the nation does not slide into a one-party dictatorship.

    He said he was not afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari and would continue to criticise him for clamping down on former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors.

    The governor spoke yesterday after the House of Assembly declared him “Nigeria’s opposition leader” for consistently speaking against perceived persecution by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.

    The House, led by Speaker Kola Oluwawole, passed the resolution at a special sitting.

    Lawmakers, who spoke at the sitting included Oluwawole; his deputy, Segun Adewumi; House Leader Tunji Akinyele; Samuel Omotoso and Mrs. Titi Owolabi-Akerele.

    Fayose said:  “Why should I be afraid of jail? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Nelson Mandela were jailed. Chief MKO Abiola was clamped into detention.

    “So, why should I be afraid of President Buhari? He is just going to be President for a period of time. Virtually, all former PDP governors are being tried for corruption.

    “But my speaking about what the APC government is doing does not mean I am eyeing a bigger position.  I am not ready to go to the Senate. Great leaders don’t think about political placement, but think about how to strive to make their country better.

    “All of us cannot run away from harassment. I am an opposition figure and I want to help the ruling party through criticisms, so that it won’t sleep.

    “I don’t have any apology. This is the only time I can help Nigeria by helping check oppression and dictatorship.

    “But a fact remains that whether the house calls me opposition leader or not, I will remain myself.”

    On why they ‘honored Fayose with the title, Oluwawole said: “Since Fayose assumed office, if you see and hear his contributions to national issues, he has been honest, frank, courageous and this shows that he is an epitome of leadership. He has also been prudent in the management of our resources.”

    The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe and the Chairman, State Traditional Council, Oba Samuel Oyebade, urged the Assembly and other Ekiti citizens to continue to support the governor.