Tag: Kayode Fayemi

FORMER Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi will deliver a lecture at the African Leadership Centre (ALC), King’s College, London, United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday.

Fayemi, according to a statement, will speak on “Peace-building, Leadership and Democratic Consolidation in Africa” at the lecture, which holds at the university campus, as part of the yearly lecture series of the ALC.

The founding director of ALC and member United Nations (UN) Advisory Group of Experts on Review of UN Peace-building Architecture, Dr. Funmi Olonisakin, would chair the lecture.

The event will also feature talks by some other renowned African scholars, including Abdel-Fatau Musah, deputy head of Office and Director of Political Affairs, United Nations Office, African Union (UNOAFU), Addis Ababa; and Prof Cheryl Hendricks, head of Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Johannesburg, at the three-day event.

Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has condoled with the former Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Tayo Ekundayo, on the death of his wife, Funke.

Mrs. Ekundayo died in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday after a brief illness.

Fayemi, who visited the Ekundayos’ Lagos home yesterday, lamented the sudden death of the late Mrs. Ekundayo whom he described as a pillar of support to the family.

The former governor urged the family to take solace in God at this difficult time, stressing that no amount of counselling by friends, relations and well wishers could heal the pains.

“This is no doubt a difficult time. The loss of a dutiful wife and loving mother is a great one. It creates a void that is difficult to fill or ignore. But as Christians we should give thanks in all situations and trust God to heal the wound.”

•Probe me if you like

THE immediate past governor of Ekiti State,Dr.Kayode Fayemi, yesterday hit back at his successor, Governor Ayo Fayose ,warning him against using falsehood as a tool of governance.

Fayemi who was responding for the first time to allegations levelled at him by Fayose said that the deployment of deceit as an official policy of administration would not help the government in any way.

He challenged the governor to probe him if he was sure that he (Fayemi) plundered the state of its resources . “If they have anything against me let them institute a probe, I am ready for it,” he said.

He cited the allegation that he left an N85billion debt behind as one of such lies. Fayemi said that all total debt   at the time of his exit was N35billion. He spoke on Akure, Ondo State-based radio station, ADABA 88.9 FM, Friday evening.

Fayemi also dismissed Fayose’s claim that he (Fayose) left N10. 4 billion in government coffers at the time of his impeachment in October 2006.

He said that records showed that Fayose left only N3.5 billion and a lot of contractor obligations behind. For the first time, the Fayemi also revealed that the actual cost of the new Government House otherwise known as Ayoba Villa is N2.1 billion.

He said the cost of the complex is lower than any other newly constructed state Government House in the country and that the Fayose Administration which has been critical of the execution of the project is currently using marble in parts of the complex.

“It is not only fully completed but it is also fully furnished. It is the cheapest Government House built by any government in the 36 states of the federation in recent times.

“That of Plateau State cost N10 billion and that of Kaduna cost N9 billion but we built our own at the cost of N2.1 billion and they are presently doing marble work on the same Government House and they are also doing the roads we have completed.

“If he (Fayose) says he refused to move there, why is he lighting up the place by powering it with diesel? I know the meetings he is holding there because it is a four-in-one building.

“But for you to try and make excuses that is not acceptable. If God helps you to be there even if you cheat your way to be there, you need to thank God for the favour He has shown you.

“These lies are unfounded, it is not expected from somebody holding that exalted position. You are sleeping there, your wife is sleeping there.

“Do we have N50 million worth of bed in this world? I want people to ask him to produce the bed of N50 million. I don’t give contract by the words of the mouth, I have papers and documents to back them up and I don’t award contracts to my brothers and family members.”

He also carpeted Fayose for claiming in his monthly media chat earlier in the day that the new Government House is yet to be completed maintaining that “the edifice is not only completed but is also fully furnished.”

He said claims that each of the beds he  bought for the complex cost N50million was false as no bed anywhere in the world costs that kind of amount.

He warned Fayose to stop peddling lies and face the serious business of governance instead of reducing governance to comedy which, he noted, is portraying Ekiti in bad light in the comity of states in Nigeria and before the international community.

Fayemi also gave Fayose hard knocks for claiming that all the brand new vehicles he (Fayemi) bought for traditional rulers have not been paid for.

Fayemi insisted that the  cars which were purchased from Coscharis Motors have been paid for admitting that it is only official cars purchased for senior civil servants from the same company that are yet to be paid for. The ex-governor noted that the wrong information being fed the world by Fayose resulted from deliberate mischief or lack of proper briefing by concerned officials.

He admitted that his administration sourced N25 billion from the Capital Market to execute projects that have generated jobs which are also yielding revenue into the coffers of government.

These include  Ekiti Parapo Square, Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort, Ire Burnt Bricks, Ayoba Villa, College of Technical Agriculture, among others are now worth over N100 billion.

Contrary to Fayose’s claims that N1.5 billion is deducted from Ekiti allocation every month, Fayemi argued that N500 million is deducted from the state allocation.

Fayemi stressed that for the whole four years he was in office, the only month his administration failed to pay workers’ salaries was September.

He added that secondary school teachers were also owed August salaries which he attributed to problems with their banks.

The former governor claimed that Fayose who had since received the September allocation has refused to pay the September salaries to workers describing the action as “callous, ungodly and immoral”.

According to him, his administration had problems paying the September salaries because Fayose allegedly went to the banks and directed them to stop  giving the outgoing government loans which were procured to pay salaries before allocation arrived.

 

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention Committee, ex- Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, was his usual ebullient self when he barred his mind on this week’s national convention of the party. He spoke with Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Yusuf Alli.

Why did you choose Lagos for APC national convention?

We originally wanted to hold our national convention in Abuja because naturally Abuja is the place to hold an event of this nature. This is where we have always held national party conventions but not because we have not held this kind of convention outside Abuja before. However, we had identified a date to hold the party convention in Abuja and due to some exigencies we had to change that date. It so happened that the new date we chose now coincides with the date the PDP also chose for their national convention.

Understandably, the Eagle Square that we wanted to book had been booked for the day. But it was not just because of  the day but because of the nature of this event. As you know anywhere our president is going to appear upwards of three to four days before then, given the security situation, the venue is taken over by the security agencies. We then looked at other options. We looked at Port Harcourt, Benin and Lagos. We felt that only Lagos successfully met all the factors or criteria that are considered to be critical to the success of our convention.

What criteria are you referring to?

For instance, like comprehensive security measures, like full coverage by the media, capacity to accommodate 10,000 delegates. There is no other city that can do that outside Abuja and Lagos. Benin that was also a very high ranking choice but it did not succeed on that point because the accommodation in Benin would not meet up with the needs of our delegates, aspirants and other leaders that will be present. So those were the grounds on which Lagos qualified to be the choice of the venue for our convention.

There were fears expressed by some aspirants over the choice of Lagos that it would give undue advantage to some other aspirant. Have you allayed those fears?

I wouldn’t know about that. I have not heard from any aspirant about the undue advantage issue. Indeed, some aspirants wrote to us wanting the convention committee to still stick to Abuja. But everything we are doing is in the open and is transparent. In fact, all the aspirants have representatives in the committee and they were part of all the discussions that transpired before we arrived at Lagos, so we were able to convince them. I then chose to meet with all the presidential aspirants because I felt it was important for me to explain to them as chairman of the convention committee why we arrived at Lagos.

By the time I finished with the explanation they could see that the choice of Lagos was not an arbitrary decision or accidental choice. They appreciated that we walked our way through the alternatives before we arrived at the choice of Lagos. And for them, just as it is important to me, a successful convention is sine qua non to a successful victory. If at the end of the day we organize an election in a place that our delegates cannot get to on time, it is bound to impact on the entire process and it might dent the overall quality of the convention that we plan. I come into this with nothing but my integrity. So, if anyone wants to suggest that this is going to be a coronation for a particular aspirant that is news to me. I have the greatest respect for every aspirant but I am not the type that can be manipulated or intimidated into working to a pre-conceived answer not even by the chairman of the party or any leader of the party. The National Convention Committee is wholly and fully in charge of this process and we will demonstrate it to all in a manner that cannot be challenged. The convention will be credible and transparent. It will also be seen to be transparent by every interested party because for us this is not just about the who at the end of the day but more about the how. For those who have always suggested that we have issues of internal democracy in our party, I owe it a duty, not just to the party but to those waiting with bated breath outside our party to see us collapse.

Don’t forget from day one, we were not supposed to succeed with this merger. We were supposed to be Abiku – a still born – but we succeeded. They said we won’t succeed with the name, we did. They said the logo was going to be contentious, but we agreed on a logo. They said we will not able to choose a national executive of the party, against all odds, the Oyegun-led leadership emerged. Now they say it is the choice of their presidential candidate that will tear everything apart. I assure you they will continue to wait for that which they will not get. So essentially, we will put in our best to ensure that we deliver a convention that is acceptable to all.

Was it the decision of the committee or the party for all the presidential aspirants to go into some kind of commitment not to defect in case they lose?

The commitment is not just about defection. We were less concerned about defection. We were more concerned about post-convention acrimony that will not augur well for the work. Let’s face it we have seven days to our convention from today and 72 days to February 14 for the presidential election. So if you look at it, we have a very short time to demonstrate to Nigerians the stuff we are made of. So essentially, whoever emerges from this convention would be handed our manifesto which we also plan to unveil to Nigerians on that day. He will be handed our manifesto and literarily hit the ground running from the convention ground to the campaign ground. So if we don’t take steps to ensure that the process is credible and acceptable to all, then we will spend the first month on post-convention acrimony and we don’t want to do that. We felt it was important that all those going into this process must also show commitment to post-convention harmony and that is why the party did what it did. More over it is not unknown in politics to ensure that people enter into a code of conduct. So that was what it was all about.

So it was not an undertaking then?

We use all sorts of names for these things; undertaking, agreement, understanding? consensus and so on. The important thing to us and the aspirants which they have demonstrated is that we don’t want to play into the hands of our opponents who are just waiting to see the collapse of this party. That would shock Nigerians if we played into the hands of Nigerians. Nigerians want a credible alternative, they want this democracy to endure and the only way it will endure is if there is fair competition and not a one-sided one.

How about the delegates? We learnt that there are some issues where in some states LCDAs were created and these LCDAs are not recognized by the constitution and the delegates cannot emerge from them. Have you overcome that issue?

Everything that we are doing in the convention committee is guided by law. That law is the constitution of the APC. If our constitution says elected officials of LCDAs are allowed to be delegates then we don’t have a choice we will abide by that. If it says they are not allowed, it goes without saying that we will not accredit those coming from LCDAs. We have looked at the guidelines and it talks about elected. There are some places where you have caretaker LCDAs or appointed LCDAs but elected LCDAs are recognized by the constitution of the party.

Have you factored into the consideration that any of the aspirant can go to court to stop the committee from doing its work?

I will be surprised but in a democracy even the option of legal option is allowed. Part of the reasons why we carried everybody along and ensure that whatever we are doing is known to aspirants their supporters and party as a whole is to forestall any extra-convention related method of resolving disputes. But if people want to resort to that they are very well within the law to do it. I don’t envisage this and I certainly hope it will not happen because we have a window. It will be considered sabotage by people who are working on behalf of other elements if that were to happen.

 Are you using Option A4 or direct ballot system?

We are using secret ballot?

Still on the undertaking, is there a mechanism that the party has put in place to punish those who may not want to abide by the outcome or agreement?

I have no doubt in my mind. That is why we have a very huge task on our hands as the convention committee. I am reasonably convinced that we have serious minded aspirants. And once we do our job in terms of the process being credible, transparent and it is seen to be transparent by all and sundry? everybody would accept the outcome. That is our own believe. But we also have post convention conflict management mechanisms. There must be something in it for all players. We want to win an election; the presidency of Nigeria is not the only position. People want to serve and those contesting on our platform are politicians of extensive credible experience. I would like to think that is it service that is propelling them. Of course they want to be president but the presidential candidature is not available due to the fact that they did not win the primaries there are other ways they can serve and I believe they will all want to live up to their undertaking.

Will the committee or party be involved after the emergence of the candidate in the picking of his running mate or will he be given a free hand to choose his running mate?

That is way beyond my pay cheque. I am only responsible for producing the presidential candidate of our party. That is the job of the convention committee. As per the process for the choice of the running mate I will like to think that is a matter for the national chairman, the leadership of the party as well as the candidate who emerges from the contest. It is not a matter for the convention committee?

What is the budget like for the convention?

I don’t have a figure from the top of my head. I can tell you that we have almost 10,000 delegates who would have to be transported from their various states and of course we want this to be in the full glare of Nigerians so that there will be live television broadcast all through the convention and there are other cost centers. It is not cheap but democracy is not cheap. We have to ensure we do things properly and in a way that can sell us to Nigerians. For us it’s another campaign tool. If we do it well, openly, transparently, it will enhance our reputation as a government in waiting and that is ready for serious business; that is what we are out to show. But the cost is something that has to be put in perspective. It is not outrageous but it’s relatively small compared to what we have to spend on the campaign trail for the 72 days that I talked about. There is no way we can match those who are in control of the federal treasury.

Nigerians know that some parties may not declare how much they are spending, so people will be thinking that the APC will be different. How much is it?

Of course we are more accountable, that is why I can’t recall it from the top of my head. But we are going to present a full report at the end of this exercise that will contain the details in a financial summary and properly audited too, how we have conducted the exercise and how much we have spent in organizing it.

Will you invite international observers and monitors for the convention?

We e are inviting local and international monitors and we expect the international media and our very respected local media to be active with us.

What is the template you are working on as an umpire?

The template we are working on is that we will be able to produce a winner at the end of the day on a simple majority. This is not a process that is based on two thirds or 25 percent of the 36 states. For this convention it is simple majority and as stated in our party constitution it is a secret ballot system and we would endeavour to make it as open as possible but anyone that is not on the delegates list will not have a vote and if as a journalist, medical worker, invited guest you are not accredited, you will not get into the venue.

Have you prepared for a situation where the aspirants get into a consensus and pick one of them as candidate? Is there a timeline for an aspirant to step down?

The assignment I have does not include consensus consideration. That is beyond my pay cheque. The leadership of the party will have to deal with that. I have not been informed that any such step has been taken by any aspirant. But in the event that it has been taken, the leadership will inform me as national chairman of the convention committee and we will factor that into the arrangements we are making.

But it has to be on time since the name of the aspirants will be on the ballot, don’t you think so?

We have already provided some guidelines which had been published in some newspapers which you may have seen on the electoral process and the steps we are going to take. As far as we are concerned, all aspirants that have been screened and have received their certificates of clearance are going to be on the ballot. Even if they dropped out for one reason or the other it will be difficult for us to remove them from the ballot.

What kind of security measures have you put in place?

We have a security committee within the National Convention Committee. However this convention is not going to falter on two or three main things that we must guard against. One of them is a flawless accreditation list of delegates. We are determined to achieve a flawless delegates list agreed to by all the contestants on the basis of the convention that we have held across the 36 states. Secondly, there is a critical nature of security that the entire exercise requires and we are taking appropriate steps to ensure that all security agencies that are critical to the exercise will be involved in it. Some extra security measures that will relate to ballot counting will also be taken but I cant go into all those details now.

At the end of the day if your candidate emerges, what will the party be offering the losers?

Even the terminology is not acceptable to me. There will be no losers. All aspirants have come into this because they believe Nigerians need a desperate change. That is what has informed their contest and that requirement for change will not disappear simply because they did not emerge at the end of the day. I don’t see them not working assiduously towards removing the ruling party which by all account has failed Nigerians. So the priority is for all of our aspirants and those of us that are not aspirants to fight to win the election. Of course the party leadership will take appropriate measures, which I may not know, in terms of post-convention conflict management that I spoke of earlier. This is a no victor, no vanquished contest.

What steps are you putting in place to check monetary inducement of delegates? And has it ever come to your committee’s attention?

I can’t speculate on what people are hearing and what people have been accused of doing or not doing. I can tell you that we are making adequate preparation for all delegates. We will be responsible for their transport and accommodation.

Will the aspirants that did not follow through with their presidential ambition after purchasing the forms get their money back?

I was not part of the screening committee, my own job is different. But to the best of my knowledge, there was no presidential aspirant who paid and did not show up. There was only one aspirant who was paid for but voluntarily backed out of the race and went for another position. So in the case of that person, there is no issue. There is non-refundable nomination fee.

Is the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, still in the presidential race?

To the best of my knowledge, yes. He was present at the meeting I held with presidential aspirants.