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Tag: Fayose

  • Fayose alleges plan by DSS to invade Govt House

    Fayose alleges plan by DSS to invade Govt House

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has accused the Federal Government of planning to invade the Government House in Ado-Ekiti with the operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), as witnessed in Akwa Ibom State.

    The governor, in a statement yesterday to reporters in Ado- Ekiti, gave his assessment of the 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari and said the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government could only boast of “imaginary achievements.”

    He said the only achievement recorded by the Buhari administration “is the harassment of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and those perceived as not on the same political page with the President.”

    Fayose described the DSS swoop on the Akwa Ibom Government House as the “score point of the 100 days in office of President Buhari”, criticising the APC-led government at the centre for allegedly authorising the invasion of the facility, which he said violated the sovereignty of the state.

    The governor accused the Director-General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, of being an APC member and decried the appointment of retired Colonel Hameed Ali as the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    He said the retention of Mrs. Amina Zakari as the acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was “illegal and unconstitutional.”

    Fayose lambasted the President for carrying out what he called “lopsided  and illegal appointments” by allegedly shutting out the Southeast geopolitical zone in the major appointments announced so far.

    He described the non-appointment of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as “unacceptable.”

    According to him, the appointments made so far by the President “have shown his (Buhari’s) insensitivity to the ethnic diversity of Nigeria and a contempt of the Nigerian Constitution”.

    The governor alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan and those who worked with him as well as PDP governors and leaders were targets of harassment, saying: “The president, by this action, is telling Nigerians that it does not pay to be honourable”.

    His words: “Dr Jonathan was honourable enough to allow a peaceful transition and conceded to President Buhari even though it was obvious that his victory was questionable.

    “Visiting such a person and those who worked with him with persecution as being done now, is no doubt a sad reminder of the reason we have many sit-tight leaders in Africa.

    “Interestingly, some of those who worked with Dr  Jonathan that the APC called thieves are now being appointed to manage the affairs of international organisations, such as the World Bank and African Development Bank.”

    On anti-graft war, Fayose said: “While I am in total support of the fight against corruption, it is my opinion that corruption can neither be fought along party lines nor through the media.

    “What is being witnessed at present as fight against corruption is mere noise-making, witch-hunt and harassment of perceived political opponents of the president.

    “This is more so that most of the political allies of the President and those who sponsored his election are also being accused of corruption and the president is looking the other way. Most importantly, the Halliburton bribery scandal must be revisited”.

  • Fayose expresses shock at workers’ lateness

    Fayose expresses shock at workers’ lateness

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose yesterday visited the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) and discovered that more than half of the workers were yet to report for duty at 9am.

    The governor, who said he would no longer tolerate lateness to work, condemned the workers’ attitude despite efforts by the government to pay their salaries.

    Fayose, who had earlier sent a team to assess workers’ punctuality, warned civil servants that “many people are outside waiting in the wings to take over their jobs.”

    He said: “The team got there and as at almost 9am, more than half of the workers were yet to resume, including some directors. This is really bad. We are doing our best to make everybody comfortable and we want you to reciprocate the gesture.

    “Spread the message to everybody that we will no longer tolerate poor attitude to work. I know you love me, but love your job also and don’t play with it. There are many people outside waiting to come and take over your job.”

  • Fayose alleges plan by DSS to invade Ekiti guest house

    Fayose alleges plan by DSS to invade Ekiti guest house

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has accused the Federal Government of planning to use the Department of State Services (DSS) to invade the state Government House in Ado Ekiti, in a scenario similar to what happened recently in Akwa Ibom State.

    Fayose in a statement he personally signed on Wednesday gave his own assessment of 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari and returned a damning verdict, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government could only boast of “imaginary achievements.”

    According to him, the only achievement recorded by the Buhari administration is “the harassment of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and those perceived as not on the same political page with the President in his party.”

    He described the DSS swoop on the Akwa Ibom Government House as the “sore point of Buhari’s 100 days in office, “criticizing the federal government for allegedly authorizing the invasion of the facility.

    The Ekiti governor accused the Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, of being an APC member, while he also described the appointment of Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) as the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the retention of Mrs. Amina Zakari as the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as “illegal and unconstitutional.”

    Fayose lambasted the President for carrying out what he called “lopsided and illegal appointments” by allegedly shutting out the Southeast geopolitical zone in the major appointments announced so far.

    He described the non-appointment of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as Secretary to the Government of the Federation as “unacceptable.”

     

  • Assembly approves N19.6bn loan for Fayose’s govt

    Assembly approves N19.6bn loan for Fayose’s govt

    Ekiti State House of Assembly on Wednesday unanimously approved N19.6 billion loan facilities for the state government.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the approval followed two different letters written by Governor Ayo Fayose requesting the house consent to access the loans.

    The letters are, “Consideration of the proposal of the State Government to Partake in the Excess Crude Account and Consideration of the Intention of Ekiti State Government to Partake in the Federal Government Bailout Package to pay Backlog of Workers’ Salaries’’.

    A breakdown of the loans showed that the state would access N10 billion from Access Bank on 10 years and 9 per cent repayment arrangement.

    Also, the state government would access N9, 604,430,000 from Skye Bank on 20 years and 9 per cent repayment arrangement.

    The Leader of the house, Mr. Akinyele Olatunji, had appealed to members to give the request accelerated considerations.

    Olatunji described the government intention as a good development, saying that it would better the lives of Ekiti citizenry.

    “Access to the N10 billion Excess Crude Account (ECA) and over N9.6 billion Federal Government bailout loan, respectively is a good development for the state.

    “The loans will enable the present administration provide basic infrastructure and social amenities for its citizens.

    “If the government is able to access these loans the government will be able to execute developmental projects.

    “Apart from the loan being used to pay the backlog of workers’ salaries, it will also enable the government provide some basic social amenities in the state,’’ Olatunji said.

    The views of the leader of the house was corroborated by the trio of Messrs Gboyega Aribisogan (Ikole I), Deputy Speaker, Segun Adewumi (Ekiti West I), and Dele Fajemileyin (Gbonyin).

    They described the decision by the state government to access the loans as the best way out of the current financial situation.

  • Ekiti PDP to APC: You can’t compel Fayose to declare assets

    The Ekiti State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of playing to the gallery by asking Governor Ayo Fayose to publicly declare his assets like his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

    The PDP maintained that the APC lacks the moral justification to upbraid Fayose for not making his assets public when many of the governors elected on its (APC) platform had not done so.

    The party in a statement issued on Wednesday by its Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, maintained that APC cannot compel Fayose to release details of his assets because the opposition has an ulterior motive by making such demand.

    Rather than calling on Fayose to make public his assets declaration, the PDP urged the APC to direct the call to about 23 governors elected on its platform to do so before demanding for that from the Ekiti governor.

    The PDP said until the APC does this, it would remain in “the wilderness of foolishness” as “a party peopled by intelligent persons should know that you can only ask question on what you are not guilty of.”

    While criticizing the APC for celebrating the assets declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari, the PDP claimed that the declaration by the President “contained many loopholes which no sensible person should be proud of.”

    “The declaration made by Buhari cannot be compared to that made by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua which till date has been adjudged as a perfect declaration by any Nigerian President,” the party stated.

     

     

  • Make public your assets, Ekiti APC tells Fayose

    Make public your assets, Ekiti APC tells Fayose

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has challenged Governor Ayo Fayose to make public, his assets, if he is to be taken serious as someone who has nothing to hide.

    It urged him to emulate his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who not only declared his assets as stipulated by law, but also published them a few months after becoming governor.

    The party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement yesterday, expressed dismay that Fayose kept sealed lips on his assets more than 10 months after coming to power, noting that doing so would restore public confidence to governance.

    Advising the governor to follow the footsteps of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Olatunbosun said the APC might have no option but to take legal action to force the governor to declare his assets, to dispel allegation of property acquisitions with the state’s funds across the globe.

    He said Fayose’s failure to make public his assets fuelled speculations that the state’s resources were allegedly being channelled towards private enterprises outside the state by him.

    Olatunbosun said: “The governor must take the opportunity of declaring his assets to douse speculations of his alleged channelling of the state’s resources to his private enterprises abroad.

    “It is curious that he has not abused President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo after they declared their assets. Fayose’s silence on the President in this case is curious because the governor has never seen anything good in whatever Buhari does.”

    Enjoining the governor to act to restore Ekiti people’s confidence, the APC spokesman said open declaration of assets would shame his critics, who always accused him of  funds diversion to private use.

    Said he: “We are worried by the unconfirmed reports of primitive acquisitions by Fayose, who allegedly owns property in Ghana, Dubai, South Africa, Abuja, Ibadan and Banana Islands and Magodo in Lagos, which were believed to have been acquired in the last nine months.

    “Our party is aware that the governor had no visible means of income prior to October 16, 2014 when he became governor and the property he owned in Ibadan and Lagos are subjects of litigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is probing him for alleged misappropriation and diversion of N1.3bilion poultry project cash to personal use in 2005.” Olatunbosun said the present allegations of funds diversion gained currency on the heels of Fayose’s frequent trips to Dubai and South Africa “whenever he receives Ekiti State’s allocations from Abuja.”

    He added: “Fayose is alleged to be building a state-of-the-art hotel in Dubai after he became governor and after he is reported to have paid a whopping N722million to himself as “arrears of his allowances” as governor during his first term on the strength of the Supreme Court judgment, which nullified his impeachment.

    “Curiously too, Fayose has kept mute on the sums of money he has received on behalf of the government, such as the N22billion refund on federal roads, N2billion ecological fund, N2billion micro-credit fund, N2.1billion bailout NLNG fund, N9.6billion bailout cash, N8.5billion windfall received in June and an average of N3billion regular federal allocations he has been receiving from October 2014 to date.”

    The APC spokesman said Ekiti people would be interested in the governor’s public declaration of his assets, considering the experience the state had under him during his aborted first tenure when he was arraigned for misappropriating N1.3billion over which the EFCC took him to court.

    “It will be recalled that in his former declaration of assets in 2003, Fayose allegedly swore to an oath, declaring two barren land in a thick forest as two completed mansions in Ibadan. The property the EFCC later confirmed as the property built with the alleged proceeds of the fraudulent poultry project four years after he became the governor,” he noted.

    Olatunbosun stressed that failure to declare his assets was a possibility of history repeating itself after the former bitter experience.

  • Ekiti APC to Fayose: Declare your assets

    Ekiti APC to Fayose: Declare your assets

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has urged Governor Ayodele Fayose to declare his assets 10 months after its earlier call on the governor to follow his predecessor, Governor Kayode Fayemi, who publicly declared his assets to the applause of Ekiti people.

    Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement said that the call became imperative against the background of earlier calls for the governor to declare his assets, failure of which had fueled speculations that state resources were allegedly being channeled towards private enterprises outside the state by the governor.

    “The governor must seize the opportunity of declaring his assets to douse speculations of his alleged funneling of the state resources to his private enterprises abroad.

    “It is curious that he has not abused President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo after they declared their assets. Fayose’s loud silence on the President in this case is curious because the governor has never seen anything good in whatever the President does,” Olatunbosun said.

    Tasking the governor to act now to restore confidence in Ekiti people for accountable governance, he said open declaration of assets would shame the critics of the governor who always accused the governor of alleged funds diversion to private use.

    “We are worried by the unconfirmed reports of primitive acquisitions by the governor who allegedly own properties in Ghana, Dubai, South Africa, Abuja, Ibadan and Banana Islands and Magodo in Lagos which were believed to have been acquired in the last nine months after he assumed office.

    “Our party is aware that Fayose had no visible means of income prior to October 16, 2014 when he became governor and the properties he owned in Ibadan and Lagos are subjects of litigation by the EFCC, which is probing the governor for misappropriation and diversion of N1.3b poultry project cash to personal use in 2005,” Olatunbosun said.

    He said current allegations of funds diversion gained currency on the heels of Fayose’s frequent trips to Dubai and South Africa “whenever he receives Ekiti State’s allocations from Abuja”.

    He added: “Fayose is alleged to be building a state-of-the-art hotel in Dubai after he became Ekiti governor and after he is also reported to have paid a whopping N722 million to himself as “arrears of his allowances” as governor during his first term on the strength of the Supreme Court judgment which nullified his impeachment.

    “Curiously too, Fayose has kept mute on various sums of money he has received on behalf of the state government, such as the N22 billion refund on Federal roads, N2billion ecological fund, N2billion micro credit fund, which he has diverted, N2.1 billion bailout NLNG fund, N9.6 billion bailout cash, N8.5 billion windfall received in June and an average of N3billion regular federal allocations he has been receiving since October 2014 till date.”

    The APC spokesman said Ekiti people would be interested in the governor’s public declaration of his assets, considering the experience the state had under him during his aborted first tenure when he was docked for misapproriating N1.3billion over which the EFCC took him to court.

    “It would be recalled that in his former declaration of assets in 2003, the governor allegedly swore to an oath declaring two barren lands in a thick forest as two completed mansions in Ibadan, the properties the EFCC later confirmed as properties built with the alleged proceeds of the fraudulent poultry project four years after he became the governor,” he explained, stressing that failure to openly declare his assets was a possibility of history repeating itself after the former bitter experience.

    The recent appointment by Fayose of a 72 year old illiterate as a council boss and many others of his yes-men in other Council areas has fuelled our suspicion that he has successfully converted the resources of Local governments to his personal use without being accountable to anyone. It has thus become a matter of necessity for Mr. Fayose to declare his assets.

    Urging the governor to follow Buhari’s footstep, Olatunbosun said APC might have no option than taking legal action to force the governor to declare his assets to dispel rumours and allegations of properties acquisitions with state funds across the globe.

    “We will stop at nothing to make sure that Fayose declares his assets openly so that we could remind him if he leaves any of his assets undeclared,” Olatunbosun concluded.

  • Fayose: How not to deal with civil servants

    Last Tuesday, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, paid an early morning surprise visit to the state secretariat during which he locked out civil servants who arrived late for work.

    As usual, the governor’s media aides eagerly circulated pictures of the latecomers either kneeling or prostrating, pleading with their principal.

    Though he earlier threatened to punish the erring civil servants, the governor has mercifully forgiven them but warned that he will continue to pay surprise visits to government offices and schools to catch late comers who will not be spared henceforth.

    Generally, civil servants nationwide have been known to be lackadaisical about their work. It is either many of them report late for duties or close before the official closing time.

    Even when they report for work, not much is done due to the structure of the system that allows for workers to work at their pace, and the bureaucracy involved in penalising offenders.

    Unlike in the private sectors where productivity is the basis for payment of monthly salaries, many civil servants get paid for doing little or nothing. Since government pays the bill, the salaries of the civil servant do not depend on income generated by ministries, department and agencies.

    I remember being a holiday staff in a government agency years ago and being told to slow down on assignments given to me.  Left to me, the assignment could have been completed in a week, but I had the latitude to stretch it for a month which was the prevailing culture among the permanent staff.

    It is against this background that Governor Fayose has good reasons to be angry with the attitude of the civil servants who reported late for work when he called at the state secretariat. With the dwindling funds available to states which make it impossible for some to pay workers, it is necessary to ensure that civil servants take their work more seriously and justify their pay.

    But for the fear of backlash from workers unions, governments at all levels will not mind trimming the bloated civil service.

    Over the years, employment into the civil service has not always been on merit alone. Many got employed on the basis of who they knew in government even when there was no vacancy to fill.

    However, enforcing discipline in the civil service has to be done within the limits of the law and civility.

    But for the carryover of the military mentality which makes civilian governors want to behave like military governors, there is no need for Governor Fayose to turn himself into a school principal who needs to catch late comers.

    There are penalties for various offences within the civil service, however mild, which can still be enforced by superiors of the erring staff. All the governor need do is to make his position clear on compliance with the civil service regulations and not continue to reinforce the impression that he likes to play to the gallery.

    While he might not have forced the latecomers to prostrate or kneel down for him as shown in the pictures of his visit, the negative impression of the treatment the workers were supposedly subjected to is not in the interest of the governor.

    His media aides obviously wanted to score cheap publicity by circulating the pictures, but they now know better – the public is not as gullible as they think.

  • Stop attacking Buhari, labour leader warns Fayose

    A trade unionist, Comrade Sunday Akintunde has warned Ekiti  State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose to desist from attacking President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Akintunde urged Fayose to exhibit decorum in public speaking, noting that his utterances against President Buhari in recent times were reckless and alien to Yoruba culture which upholds respect to elders.

    “As Yorubas, we are raised to respect elders and have moral values of omoluabi, not to be rude, crude and disrespect our elders but to behave in decorous manner in the society. Fayose has desecrated the office of governor and shown that he is a talkative by rushing to the press on national issues without having something tangible to offer the people of Ekiti other than to rubbish the President.

    Akintunde, who is the former Chairman of National Union of Air Transport Employee (NUATE),Murtala Muhammed International Airport chapter, Ikeja, Lagos, urged Fayose to stop his campaign of calumny on the person of President Buhari.

    He said: “Governor Fayose should stop heating the polity due to his inability to give the people of Ekiti the dividends of democracy and the promises he made during his campaign before he became governor. He should stop attacking President Buhari and focus his energy and attention on how to move Ekiti forward rather than turning himself to a town crier.”

    He added: “ If corruption is the only epidemic or virus that President Buhari will eradicate in this country for four  years, about  80 per cent of our problems would have been solved because corruption is the major virus that is destroying all__ sectors of the economy.”

    Meanwhile a socio-political group, Ekiti New Project (EKNP) has faulted the appointment of a 72-year-old illiterate carpenter, Olatunde Ayeni, as the caretaker chairman of Moba Local Government Area of the state.

    The group at the end of its inaugural meeting held in Ado Ekiti on Friday described Ayeni’s appointment as a “big insult to the intelligence of the people of Ekiti who are renowned globally for education and scholarship.”

    In a statement by its scribe , Olufemi Aduloju,  EKNP said the action of Fayose has embarrassed the state and portrayed it in bad light.

    It said: “It is a big insult on the integrity of the people of Ekiti for the governor to have appointed an octogenarian, illiterate and a carpenter to hold in trust the hopes and lives of a whole local government. Ekiti people are known worldwide with what their sons and daughters have achieved in their chosen fields.Also, it is an internationally known fact that in our state, it is one house, one professor and now, what is the state being turned into? When a carpenter, an okada riders and market women_ are now being given sensitive political appointments, it is an insult_ on our collective entity.

    “We therefore wish to caution the governor to stop rubbishing the state and the integrity of its people in the comity of states. The governor should keep himself busy with the seriousness of governance and bring the desired development to the state. Enough of his jamborees,  jumping around without doing anything; enough of this insult on our collective integrity. Though, _it is a good omen to reward a loyal and committed member, but the issue of giving such a sensitive appointment to an illiterate is awkward, he could have been compensated with contract.

    “How can an illiterate control the local government’s allocation? The governor just wants to use the man to mismanage the resources of the local government. The appointment of the caretaker chairman is nothing but an insult to all the people of Moba council area especially the educated ones. The implication is that, education is nothing in Ekiti state according to the governor. I don’t know how somebody who can neither write nor read will be able to keep the oath of secrecy in governance, since he will have to hire an educated person as personal assistant or special assistant to interpret the contents of every file. Therefore, the secrecy in governance is already eroded in that system because such aide is not supposed to be privy to all government transactions according to the law. Ordinarily, Ayo Fayose himself should not have been governor if there is a system in place to measure competence and finesse, unfortunately, there is none. The appointment defines his government as directionless and rudderless.”__

    Education has no meaning anymore if we know in a ‘Fountain of Knowledge’, erroneously too, that we can get to such position without our skill. Let us therefore pray hard that we don’t have another North Korean leader in our land.”

  • DSS invasion of Akwa Ibom govt’s house unacceptable – Fayose

    DSS invasion of Akwa Ibom govt’s house unacceptable – Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has condemned the alleged invasion of the Akwa Ibom State Government House, Uyo, by the special squad of the Department of State Services (DSS).

    Fayose at a news conference on Friday regretted the way and manner the presidential wing of the Akwa Ibom Government House was ransacked in a “commando-like manner” with the occupants harassed and intimidated.

    He described the claim that the security operatives were looking for bombs as unacceptable, saying the DSS men ought to look for bomb in the Northeast region ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.

    The Ekiti governor said the invasion was “regrettable, unfortunate, condemnable and unacceptable” because the DSS boss’ action has come to symbolize dictatorship which “democracy abhors.”

    “By invading the Government House, the DSS operatives behaved in an authoritarian and despotic manner in a democratic era,” he stated.

    Fayose urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the DSS Director General, Lawal Daura, to order saying he is dragging Nigeria back to era of military dictatorship.

    He said: “Obviously, the Thursday invasion of the Akwa Ibom Government House by men of the DSS and the arrest of the state INEC REC are part of the sinister plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to circumvent the will of the people of the South South and Southeast states controlled by the PDP, using the DSS, but it will fail ultimately.

    “To say the least, invasion of the Akwa Ibom State Government House on Thursday as ordered by Daura, was a rape of democracy and invitation to chaos and anarchy. It is authoritarian, dictatorial and I condemn it strongly.

    “If a Government House occupied by a Governor who enjoys the same immunity enjoyed by the President as provided by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could be invaded by a Special Squad of the DSS, it means Lawal Daura is moving this country towards dictatorship and it must be said that Daura and his DSS men will definitely have Nigerians to contend with.

    “As for me, I will continue to talk because Nigeria is not a banana republic that can be ruled anyhow by anyone and Mr. Daura and those urging him on should know that this reign of brute force over co situational democracy will fail.

    “Most importantly, Lawal Daura and his desperate men should know that here in Nigeria of today, the power of the people is greater than the power of those in power and the people will always rise in defence of their government no matter how strong the aggression.”