I Won’t Contest Election In 2019-Fayose
Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose yesterday doused the insinuations in some quarters that he was eyeing either Vice Presidential or senatorial position in 2019 general election.
The governor who stated this during a meeting with civil servants on grade levels one to seven in the state civil service said his main preoccupation after exit in 2018 will be to continue to agitate for better treatments for the Nigerian populace from the federal and state governments.
Fayose, who declined to comment on the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari, which had been rumoured to have degenerated, said “let me wait for some time and see how event unfolds before making my submission on the issue”.
While saluting the workers for their courage and perseverance in the face of the economic recession, culminating in irregular payment of salaries, urged them to discountenance the rumour being allegedly peddled on social media by members of the opposition that he had received the second tranche of Paris Club fund.
He said what the state had got so far was a sum of N8.8 billion which was shared between the State and local government, “with over 70 percent of it expended on the payment of salaries instead of the 50 percent agreed with the federal Ministry of Finance”.
He advised the workers to register during the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercising, saying “ I am not saying this because of any political interest, but because of Ekiti interest. I don’t want to contest again, not even for senatorial race in 2019.
“One thing I have learnt was that, Ekiti people don’t normally participate in some government policies where data are collated. And it used to affect us in getting extra grants or favour from the federal government and international agencies.
“The FG is planning to renovate 1,000 health centres in Nigeria and Ekiti got only three. When I enquired they said the data used to compile the figures didn’t favour Ekiti. If they are to register for polio vaccine, our people won’t make themselves available, because of nonchalant attitude
“That is why I won’t care to declare more holidays for people to get registered. But I want to call on INEC to look into the faulty Data Captured machines. We have had bad experiences since the commencement of the CVR programme last week and the commission must resolve all these anomalies in the interest of our people.
“I also want to note that all these problems won’t reoccur during the 2018 poll , that is the main reason why INEC as a commission must improve on its efficiency ”, he said.
Fayose told the workers to indicate interest in the Fadama Graduate and Unemployed Youth Support Pgrogramme for the training of 300 people in Ekiti that would specialize in commercial farming.
The governor added that the government is ready to give the necessary impetus to workers that show interest in agriculture.
