Fayose, in a statement by his Special Assistant Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the new government house was
an act of insensitivity to the plight of Ekiti State people, many of whom
cannot afford to feed once in a day. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has
described the newly built Government House in the state as a show of wickedness
to the people of the state by the immediate past Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
Fayose, in a statement by his Special Assistant Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the new government house was
an act of insensitivity to the plight of Ekiti State people, many of whom
cannot afford to feed once in a day.
Speaking with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, Olayinka said
no progressive minded Ekiti State person would see the out-of-this-world luxury
provided with over N3.3 billion borrowed fund for Fayemi, his wife and children
and will not weep for the state and its people.
Olayinka, who said Fayose was alarmed at the waste of Ekiti
State resources to provide comfort for a single family out of the thousands of
households in the state, added: “The governor would have preferred to sell out
the property and use the fund to provide basic amenities and employment
opportunities for the people.”
He disclosed that Fayemi was planning to buy a helicopter if
he had returned to office for a second term, adding: “The plan was for Fayemi
to run government from the comfort of Oke-Ayoba Government House and move from
there to anywhere he wanted without the people seeing him.
“That’s also the reason he (Fayemi) refused to renovate the
Governor’s Office, leaving it in a state of disrepair because he knew that he
was not going to use the office during his second term.
“Also, contract for the maintenance of the property was
already awarded for N150 million per annum.
“When we visited the Government House for the first time
yesterday, Mr. Governor was like: how I wish I can sell off this place or turn
it to commercial use.
“It is simply wicked for a governor to be more interested in
this manner of ostentatious comfort at the expense of the people.
“The bed on which Fayemi slept before he left government
alone costs over N30 million!
“That of his wife costs over N20 million!
“Between Fayemi and his wife, what was spent on their
bedrooms, toilets and bathrooms will be in the region of N100 million.
“How can a responsible government use borrowed fund to
provide this kind of luxury for the governor and his family alone in a state
where a lot of people cannot afford to feed once in a day?
“People should ask the outgone governor what was really
wrong with the abandoned governor’s lodge used by his (Fayemi) predecessors?
“Shouldn’t such funds expended on the hilltop edifice have
been used to resuscitate the moribund textile factory in Ado-Ekiti that was
turned to lock-up shops to provide employments for our teeming unemployed
youths?
“Also, was Fayemi living in that manner of opulence before
he became governor?
“Was he sleeping on a body-massaging bed and bathing in an
electric controlled Jacuzzi?
“Here is Fayemi, who could not pay workers salary, owing
them two months’ salary before he left.
“A Fayemi, who out of sheer wickedness refused to pay
pensioners N2.4 billion pension and gratuities, N400 million workers leave
bonus, N700 million subventions to parastatals and tertiary institutions and
remit N2.4 billion four months cooperative society’s deductions from workers
salary, preferring to use over N3 billion borrowed fund to provide luxury for
himself, his wife and children alone.
“This is wickedness!
“Most importantly, did our late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo,
whom Fayemi and his so-called progressives claim as their role-model, live in
any government house, not to talk of building an Emperor-like house for
himself?
“Did late Michael Adekunle Ajasin build a monarchical
government house for himself?
“Did Baba Lateef Jakande live in any government house?
“These are great Yoruba sons, whose recorded landmark
achievements as Premier of the old Western Region and governors of Lagos State
and the old Ondo State respectively.
“The duo of Ajasin and Jakande were able to impact
tremendously on their states because they would not like to waste public fund
to provide luxury for themselves.”
While reiterating Governor Fayose’s avowed commitment to the
masses, Olayinka said: “Left for Governor Fayose, he won’t use that
aristocratic government house because it is a symbol of oppression in itself.
“He will prefer to live where Ekiti people can easily see
him, touch him, eat with him and discuss the progress of the state together.
“But abandoning it would amount to colossal waste of public
funds.
“Let me assure you Governor Fayose will not hide himself
from the masses.”
Source-aitonline
No comments:
Post a Comment