The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has told Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop deceiving the people of the state with unrestrained reeling out of inconsistent debt figures that has become a permanent feature in his public speeches.
Inconsistent debt figures and deliberate bogus and unrealistic projects by Fayose is a ploy to self enrichment, the APC said on Sunday.
It said the people are not fooled by the recalcitrant posturing in government, warning the governor to stop treating Ekiti State people as children with scant capacity for reasoning.
Reacting to the recent declaration by Fayose that the state’s debts had risen to N252 billion, the Publicity Secretary of the APC, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement that the governor had turned himself to a “master juggler in a dishonest public show where two plus two may not be four”.
Regretting that the governor had turned the state to a public square for spinning of incredible fables, Olatunbosun said: “It is laughable that Governor Fayose has turned himself to a jester on street shows with toddlers as his audience who chuckle at gestures but lost at the grappling with the content of the drama.
“At assumption of office, Fayose told the world that former Governor Kayode Fayemi left N86b. Later, he sat up to reduce it to N56b and now, he has announced another figure of N252b that will be redeemed in 2036, all in an attempt to hide behind debt profile to deny people real development while living in private comfort as planned.
“He has come out again with the debts that will be redeemed in 2036 we wonder whether he will still remain the governor till 2036 and as such he is handicapped by debt burden to fulfil his obligations to Ekiti people.”
Olatunbosun said Fayose’s motive for his current lie was to deny the past political office holders payment of severance allowances even though payment of severance allowances were captured in the bailout cash so that he can help himself with the cash, thinking the unsuspecting Ekiti State people would not know.
The APC spokesman regretted that the governor had abandoned governance for theatrics, all intended to punish Ekiti State people in pursuit of his selfish motives.
The APC said Fayose has refused to engage Ekiti State youths in rewarding ventures like commercial agriculture, but has instead embarked on bogus projects like the construction of an airport in an agrarian state so that he can enrich himself and his immediate family.
The statement by Olatunbosun added: “It is regrettable that the administration of Governor Fayose has turned Ekiti State to a trading post using massive and reckless propaganda and mindless lies to deceive the people on the financial status of the state in order to put people in permanent state of flux so that they won’t be able to demand for their rights and fulfillment of campaign promises.
“We want to make it abundantly clear to Ekiti people that Fayemi left a debt of N18.5b as he explained to the whole world on the floor of the Nigeria Senate chambers during his ministerial screening session and this has not been controverted.
“It is gratifying that Fayemi did not borrow to pay salaries; he borrowed to implement development projects and the projects are there across the state for the people to see.”
Olatunbosun urged the governor to take his mind off endless pursuit of private comfort at the detriment of the collective interest of Ekiti State people, saying endless lies on imaginary debts to create alibi for non-performance was a callous scheme to deny the people their rights while the governor lived in opulence.
He said: “The governor takes N250 million as security vote every month. He travels to Dubai every month after collecting federal allocation. While Ekiti youths have become arms bearers as Fayose’s thugs, his sons ride around in multi-million naira posh cars while he has also sacked thousands of youths in empowerment schemes introduced by Fayemi.
“He reversed workers promotions and cut in the running grants approved for civil servants while he cancelled the monthly payment of N5,000 to the elderly introduced by Fayemi after deceiving these elderly people that he (Fayose) would increase the pay to N10,000 during campaign.
“All these are hallmarks of wickedness and mindless pursuit of private comfort while the rest of the people suffer.
“The governor must pay severance allowances to the past political office holders as captures in the bail out protocol and we call on workers to insist on the payment of their entitlements while Ekiti people should demand for performance and should not be deceived by Fayose’s endless lies on debts profile of the state.”