Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has described the call for his resignation as “laughable and absolute balderdash.”
He was responding to a protest staged by a coalition of civil society organisations and the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties on Friday in Ado Ekiti.
Fayose spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in an interview on Saturday.
Adelusi alleged that those behind the protest were stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress.
He also said the state government had no comment to make concerning the alleged denial by Zenith Bank of their team coming to beg the governor.
“The photographs and video clips did reveal everything. But we are keeping our fingers crossed for the next line of step to take should the Zenith Bank continue to be unreasonable.”
According to Adelusi, the delay in payment of workers’ salaries in Ekiti cannot be blamed on the Fayose administration because it was not his government that plunged the state into a huge debt which has now made creditors to continue to deduct N1.2bn on a monthly basis from the allocation of the state.
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“It was the administration of Kayode Fayemi that did that. It was the APC-led government in the state that did that and the facts are in the public domain. Everybody in the state knows how the Fayemi administration took N25bn bond to execute frivolous projects. They also took commercial loans totalling N31bn. The Debt Management Office has all the details and Nigerians are not in the dark about that. Those APC-sponsored protesters, if they are really concerned about the development of Ekiti State, ought to call Fayemi and his group to come and account for their actions in office.
“Fayemi diverted N850m from the Universal Basic Education Commission and since 2012, the state has not been able to benefit from the programmes of the commission. Groups have written petitions to anti-graft agencies and many reminders have followed, but nothing has been done. So, who is calling another person a thief?
“Governor Fayose is making a frantic effort to resolve the salary issue and has keyed into the Federal Government’s new bailout scheme, and workers in Ekiti would soon smile and praise him.
“I have no doubt that posterity will pass a favourable judgment on Governor Fayose and the Ekiti people are not deceived by the antics of the opposition who are only trying to poison our waters. Those who think they can silence Governor Fayose, who has become the voice of the voiceless in Nigeria, are mistaken,” he said.
The state APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, did not answer calls by our correspondent to his phone. He had also yet to respond to a text message sent to him.
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