The
newly elected Governor of Ekiti state, Governor Ayo Fayose has revealed some of
the things his eyes have seen in the newly built government house. According
to him, in a statement by his Special Assistant Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, 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 affluence the immediate past governor lived in while he was still the
governor can be said to be alarming.
“When we visited the Government House for the first time yesterday, I 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?, the governor quizzed.
Quote
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.”
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