One of the Fayemi and his wife, Bisi's
bedroom
| credits: Government House
| credits: Government House
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has accused
his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of spending N50m on beds in his and his
wife’s bedrooms in the newly built Ekiti State Government House.
He claimed in a statement made available to
journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday that what was spent on the two bedrooms,
their toilets and bathrooms was in the region of N100m.
The statement titled “N3.3bn new Government House
Is Fayemi’s Show of Wickedness To Ekiti People,” was signed by his Special
Assistant on Information and Social Media, Mr. Lere Olayinka.
But Fayemi, through his media aide, Olayinka
Oyebode, said the allegation was more about The Comedy of Errors. He
advised Fayose to stop the theatre of absurd.
The statement by Olayinka described the new
government house as an act of insensitivity to the plight of Ekiti people, many
of whom, could not afford to feed once in a day.
According to the statement, no progressive-minded
Ekiti person would see the “out-of-this-world luxury” provided with over N3.3bn
borrowed funds for Fayemi, his wife and children and will not weep for the state
and its people.
It claimed that the bed on which Fayemi slept
before he left government was N30m while that of his wife was over
N20m.
[/media-credit] The second bedroom
The statement read in part, “Between Fayemi and
his wife, what was spent on their bedrooms, toilets and bathrooms will be in the
region of N100m.
“How can a responsible government use borrowed
funds to provide this kind of luxury for the governor and his family alone in a
state where a lot of people cannot afford to feed more than once in a day?
“People should ask the former governor what was
really wrong with the abandoned governor’s lodge used by his (Fayemi)
predecessors?
“Shouldn’t such funds expended on the hilltop
edifice have been used to resuscitate the moribund textile factory in Ado-Ekiti
that was turned to lock-up shops to provide employment for our teeming
youths?
“Also, was Fayemi living in that manner of
opulence before he became governor? Was he sleeping on a body-massaging bed and
bathing in an electric-controlled Jacuzzi?
“Here is Fayemi, who could not pay workers
salaries, owing them two-month salaries before he left. A Fayemi, who out of
sheer wickedness refused to pay pensioners N2.4bn pension and gratuities; N400m
workers leave bonus, N700m subventions to parastatals and tertiary institutions
and remit N2.4bn four months’ cooperative society’s deductions from workers
salaries preferring to use N3.3bn borrowed funds to provide luxury for himself,
his wife and children alone.
“This is wickedness!’’
The statement quoted Fayose as being alarmed at
the waste of Ekiti resources to provide comfort for a single family out of the
thousands of households in the state.
It added, “The governor would have preferred to
sell out the property and use the fund to provide basic amenities and employment
opportunities for the people.”
The statement also alleged that Fayemi was
planning to buy a helicopter if he had returned to office for a second term
because the plan was for him “to run government from the comfort of Oke-Ayoba
Government House and move from there to anywhere he wanted without the people
seeing him.”
It added, “That’s also the reason he (Fayemi)
refused to renovate the Governor’s Office, leaving it in a state of disrepair
because he knew that he was not going to use the office during his second
term.
“Also, contract for the maintenance of the
property was already awarded for N150m per annum.
“When we visited the Government House for the
first time yesterday, Mr Governor was like; how I wish I can sell off this place
or turn it to commercial use? It is simply wicked for a governor to be more
interested in this manner of ostentatious comfort at the expense of the
people.”
Fayose, according to the statement, wondered “if
the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom Fayemi and his so-called progressives
claimed as their role-model, lived in any government house, much less of
building an Emperor-like house for himself.”
“Did the late Adekunle Ajasin build a monarchical
government house for himself? Did Baba Lateef Jakande live in any government
house? These are great Yoruba sons, who recorded landmark achievements as
premier of the old Western Region and governors of Lagos State and the old Ondo
State respectively.
“The duo of Ajasin and Jakande were able to
impact tremendously on their states because they did not like to waste public
funds on the provision of luxury for themselves.”
The statement said that “left for Governor
Fayose, he won’t use that aristocratic government house because it is a symbol
of oppression in itself.”
The statement added, “He(Fayose) will prefer to
live where Ekiti people can easily see him, touch him, eat with him and discuss
the progress of the state together.
“But abandoning it would amount to colossal waste
of public funds; but Governor Fayose will not hide himself from the masses.”
Fayemi’s media aide, however dismissed the
allegation by Fayose, saying “I have taken a guided tour of that place and I
don’t think I have seen such an outcry.
“I don’t know where they got their figure from;
it sounds absurd. I ‘ll advise them to stop this theatre of absurd. Governance
is a serious business and I am appealing to them not to reduce it to a joke.
“They are turning Ekiti into a circus show and
they should stop it. It is childish and puerile for them to have come up with
that figure. There is nothing ostentatious about Dr. Fayemi’s lifestyle: the
lodge is there as a property of the state.
“Whether Fayose stays there or not is his cup of
tea. The new government house is a legacy building. Dr. Fayemi did not go with
it to Isan-Ekiti; it is for the state. It is not about personal aggrandisement;
it is a befitting edifice for the state. Go to other states of the federation
and see their government houses. Ekiti state deserves the best.”http://www.punchng.com/news/fayemi-spent-n50m-on-two-beds-says-fayose/
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