A member of House of Representatives representing Ikole Ekiti/Oye Federal Constituency (I), Hon. Bimbo Daramola, has said President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign promise to implement the report of National Conference was misleading and belated.
Daramola also said the President had no constitutional power to implement the report.
He said only the National Assembly could do such.
The lawmaker, a member of the All Progressives Congress, stated this while addressing his supporters at a campaign for his re-election to the National Assembly in communities in the Ikole and Oye local government areas that constitute the Federal constituency.
He said the President got it wrong by declaring that he would implement the reports if elected in Saturday’s presidential poll.
Rather, the federal lawmaker declared in vehement terms that the powers to implement the reports or otherwise resided only in the National Assembly and not in the presidency.
Daramola therefore enjoined all Nigerians and the Ekiti State electorate not to be deceived by what he referred to as “mere campaign gimmicks” on the part of Jonathan.
Daramola told voters who had collected their Permanent Voter Cards to use them wisely by ensuring that it was used to an advantage by voting for all candidates of the APC.
He said: “Jonathan does not have such powers to implement reports of last year’s National Conference in the first place. It is the two chambers of the National Assembly that can discuss and approve of any implementation where applicable. Why is he using that as a campaign topic wherever he goes?
“Therefore, for anyone to boast to traditional rulers and uninformed voters across various zones of the country that he would implement those reports if re-elected is not only misleading but also a decoy to gain cheap popularity and undue political sympathy.”
Daramola lamented that the economy of the country had nose-dived beyond normal, such that 22 out of the 36 states of the federation are currently struggling to pay monthly salaries of their workers.
Besides, he alleged that over 20 federal ministries and agencies were unable to pay their workers’ salaries for the month of December, 2014.
The lawmaker boasted that an APC-controlled government would wipe away the tears of Nigerians and put the nation’s economy on the right pedestal if voted into power on Saturday.
Aside from visiting towns such as Irele, Oke-Ako, Ipao and Ikole-Ekiti, where he also paid homage to traditional rulers and received royal blessing, Daramola said there was no town or village in his federal constituency that did not benefit with one project or the other in his first term in office.
According to him, towns such as Ara/Ikole, Omu and Osin, which had for long been deprived of portable water, were provided with the commodity through motorized boreholes funded by him.
Besides, he said 40 Solar Panel Poles electricity were provided to supply illumination to two towns of Oye and Ikole-Ekiti.
The lawmaker said no fewer than 26 persons were also given gainful employment in various government ministries and establishments through his personal influence.
In the areas of health and agriculture, he disclosed that a total of 1,000 indigent people were supported with N14.5 million through payment of their hospital bills, while a multi-million naira “Joan Taiwo Daramola memorial Hospital”, named after his mother, was built at his home town in Ire-Ekiti to serve the rural populace.
This, he said, was in addition to distribution of farm implements, 48 cars and 38 tricycles to rural farmers and artisans, promising to do more if re-elected.