The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has asked Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop lying about refunds made to him on federal projects executed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi.
It challenged the governor to explain how he spent the N22b refunds on federal projects executed by Fayemi.
A statement by the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Ekiti State, Taiwo Olatubosun, also faulted Fayose’s claims on the cost per kilometre of roads constructed by Fayemi, saying the former governor engaged contractors with the lowest cost without compromising the quality of the roads.
Saying that quality jobs were executed for Ekiti State people without defaulting in salary payment, the party added that such roads and other infrastructure were incomparable with the ones executed by Fayose, which collapsed barely six months after commissioning.
While also tasking the governor to explain how he spent the N2b ecological fund he collected from the Federal Government, the party said there was no truth in Fayose’s claim that the contractor paid for the dualisation of Ado-Ikere-Ondo State boundary abandoned the job.
Olatubosun explained: “It was Fayose who cancelled the contract and directed the contractor to use the money he collected to do some roads in Bawa Estate area of Ado-Ekiti. Who does not know that Ado-Ikere-Ondo road boundary construction is costlier than Bawa Estate road? But the governor has not told Ekiti people the contract variation cost he collected from the contractor and the remaining was diverted to Afao-Ekiti, his town.”
He added: “His claim that Fayemi’s cost of road per kilometre is expensive is not only false but also ridiculous. The truth of the matter is that the cost of the roads per kilometre awarded by Fayemi’s government is the cheapest in the country even cheaper than the then PDP-controlled Federal Government cost. ‘It is an afterthought and diversionary for Fayose to now claim that the Federal Government did not approve federal roads constructed by the state and so no refund. This is better told to the marines.
“This is a devious way by Fayose to cover up his tracks after collecting N22 billion refund on roads and N2 billion ecological fund. This much former Minister of State for Works, Dayo Adeyeye, confirmed to Ekiti people during President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti. Adeyeye was a minister of works who should know the details on construction works in his home state, particularly for such a man with burning ambition to become the governor of Ekiti State and we have every reason to believe him.’ Ekiti workers and people are asking, what has Fayose done with this sum of money that he cannot pay their salary? This is heartless and wicked.”
Olatubosun added that it was sheer act of wickedness and insensitivity to continue to owe workers their salaries after collecting September allocation and other refunds running into billions without consideration for the payment of workers’ salary arrears and development of infrastructure.
Olatubosun, said the party had been vindicated by the new revelation that Ekiti State is not on the list of states being owed by the Federal Government, adding that denying ever collecting refunds on federal projects executed by the state government was no longer tenable in the face of conspicuous missing of Ekiti State on the list of the states to which the Federal Government was indebted.
The statement added: “More worrisome is that we were still battling to resolve the riddle surrounding the N650m refund to the governor’s election contractors when the N720m salary arrears during his unfinished first term emerged. This was to be followed by the electronic payment of N13m to each of the 16 local governments with the instruction to physically surrender the cash for state/local government joint projects.”
It noted that though Fayose on many occasions denied collecting the funds, the governor admitted collecting the ecological fund after the APC approached the Fund office with FOI law to get facts of the matter.
Asking Fayose how he had been spending the state money, Olatubosun recalled that the party once alerted Ekiti State that Governor Fayose collected N2 billion Ekiti ecological fund on December 30, 2014, the same day N10 billion was released to five states, among which were Bauchi and Ekiti States.
He explained that while Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State told the people of his state the projects to be executed with the money, Fayose jetted out to Dubai for days without any indication that he had gone there officially on behalf of Ekiti people.
He added that it was later that Ekiti people learnt about the lavish lifestyle of the governor in the galleries of highbrow hotels and merry-making centres in the bustling economic hub of the Middle East.
Olatubosun said: “Governor Fayose has been denying ever collecting refunds of the money Governor Fayemi spent of federal projects in the state. Four days after Fayose made this denial on the state television, the Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said publicly at President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti that the Federal Government had refunded money spent on the federal projects executed by Ekiti State government, including Ado-Ifaki and Ado-Akure roads.”
Olatubosun added that APC later learnt that Adeyeye was scolded for making that public disclosure.
The APC spokesman challenged the governor to explain why he was part of alleged ‘January rush’ acquisition of prime properties in Dubai a week after collecting the money.
He added that the fresh revelation raised fears that Ekiti State might have run into trouble again after difficulty to resolve the alleged N1.3 billion poultry project fraud over which the EFCC had taken the governor to court.
“Now is the revelation again that the N22b incurred by the state on Federal projects had been defrayed but the governor didn’t the truth the list of the states owed by the Federal Government emerged,” he said.
“Up till now, the governor has not shown Ekiti people his development programme. All he has been saying is about debts. Nobody knows anything about his assets, as he has refused to declare his assets against the law,” Olatubosun said.
He added that the governor must tell Ekiti people how he had been spending their money, insisting that he must declare his assets and show his development plan to the people instead of the current practice of governance by impulse.