You Lied On FG’s Non-Patronage Claim, APC Tells Fayose
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has challenged Governor Ayodele Fayose’s claim that the state is not gaining anything from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
It said instances of the Federal Government’s assistance abound that should have lifted Ekiti people from their present sorry state if the governor had applied various financial aids by the Federal Government honestly.
Fayose had said in his last media chat broadcast live on state radio and television that the Federal Government has not rendered any assistance to Ekiti State.
He also said that he had not borrowed any money since his assumption of office in 2014, maintaining that all the state’s debts were incurred by the administration of his predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi. He also said the loans taken by the last administration would be fully repaid in 2036.
But reacting in a statement in Ado-Ekiti by the Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party berated the governor for always lying to the public to deny various aides he had received from the Federal Government to settle workers’ salaries and projects implementation.
Listing various instances of assistance the governor had enjoyed from the Federal Government, Olatunbosun explained:
“Besides regular payment of statutory monthly allocations, including the August allocation that Fayose himself put at N2.3b, the governor borrowed N10b from the Federal Government for projects and took another N2b from the Central Bank for small-scale businesse but diverted the money as no small-scale entrepreneur received kobo.
“He took two tranches of bailout of about N20b, N14b in Budget Support Facility and the last Paris Club N4.7b refund largely for salary payment but diverted all to the flyover and new market projects awarded to his friends’ companies in which he allegedly has interest.
“Fayose who said that the state has not benefitted anything from the Federal Government is in charge of the Federal Government’s N-Power project, school feeding programme and cash transfer programme in which beneficiaries take N5,000 and he has used his position as governor to ensure that it is only his supporters that have benefitted from some of these schemes.
“The Federal Government has also commenced Federal Housing Project around Agric Olope area of Ado-Ekiti while the Federal Secretariat construction has started in the state capital even while his needless but most costly flyover in Nigeria in Ado-Ekiti is a Federal road on which he will be reimbursed by the Federal Government.
“The question is, where is Fayose getting loans for these projects if it is true that the Federal Government is not patronising the state in spite of Fayose’s refusal to attend National Economic Council meetings where his colleagues in other states table their problems for the assistance of the Federal Government that he prefers to abuse through paid adverts in the newspapers?”
Olatunbosun accused the governor of sabotaging the state’s interest in his needless fight against the President, explaining that while other governors were queuing into the Federal Government’s development projects, Fayose preferred to launch attacks against the President.
“While Lagos, Jigawa, Kano, Benue, Osun, Ondo and Kebbi, among others, were queuing into the agricultural scheme of the Federal Government in rice production and were showing the blue prints for the scheme, Fayose had nothing to show to the point that his Commissioner of Agriculture was asked to present the state’s agricultural agenda but the poor man was askance, as he was not able to say anything because Fayose has no plan for agriculture.
“Again, recently, when other governors were being asked to show interest in mining prospecting licences, Fayose was at the time busy in the media talking about the non-existent 11 pictures of President Buhari on life-support machines while other governors were signing up for their states, including Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who was sworn in just a few months before the time,” he explained.
Olatunbosun accused the governor of cleverly dodging questions from the contributing public on SUBEB funds during the media chat, saying revelations by Access Bank that Fayemi did not collect any money but that it was indeed Fayose who collected N71m on the botched loan had exposed him as “shameless pathological liar” who would not want to discuss issues on SUBEB “after his lies were exposed by Access Bank”.
He also accused Fayose of impropriety in the application of SUBEB funds, alleging that while the governor kept lying to Ekiti people on the status of the funds, he had allegedly taken 2014, 2015 and 2016 UBEC contributions by allegedly tricking UBEC office in Abuja.
He explained: “Information at our disposal indicates that the governor had allegedly collected N2.8b plus representing UBEC’s counterpart funding for years 2014, 2015 and 2016 cash payments.
“According to the information at our disposal, the state government allegedly repainted several schools already rehabilitated by the last administration in some local governments and presented them to UBEC as new projects executed through the state’s share of UBEC projects and in ignorance, UBEC paid the state N2.8b plus for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“Instead of spending this money on all schools across the state, the governor diverted the money to the International School in Afao-Ekiti that he initiated in 2005.
“We also have the details of how the governor announced the sharing of N4.7b Paris Club to the local governments and later coerced them into returning the money, all the money again diverted to his flyover project he has refused to disclose its cost to Ekiti people after three upward reviews of project cost.
“Revelations so far on the new market project in which his friend is on trial in court have exposed Fayose as the sole beneficiary of the projects on which he diverted the money meant for workers’ salaries.
“We are collating all these facts, including the activities of the fronts he is using for money laundering, for onward transmission to EFCC for proper investigation that will lead to the retrieval of Ekiti money from Fayose and his men,” he concluded.
