Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor, Dr Ayodele Fayose on Information and social Media, Mr Lere Olayinka has described the new government house built by the immediate past government of Dr Kayode Fayemi as an act of insensitivity to the plight of Ekiti people, many of whom cannot afford to feed once in a day.
Speaking with pressmen in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, Olayinka said no progressive minded Ekiti person would see the out-of-this-world luxury provided with over N3.3bn borrowed fund for Fayemi, his wife and children and will not weep for the State and its people.
Olayinka, who said Governor Fayose was alarmed at the waste of Ekiti resources to provide comfort for a single family out of the thousands of households in the State, added that; “the governor would have preferred to sell out the property and use the fund to provide basic amenities and employment opportunities for the people.
He disclosed that Fayemi was planning to buy a helicopter if he had returned to office for a second term, adding that; “the plan was for Fayemi to run government from the comfort of Oke-Ayoba Government House and move from there to anywhere he wanted without the people seeing him. 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.”
Speaking further, the governor’s aide said; “The bed on which Fayemi slept before he left government alone costs over N30 million! That of his wife costs over N20 million!
“Between Fayemi and his wife, what was spent on their bedrooms, toilets and bathrooms will be in the region of N100 million.
“How can a responsible government use borrowed fund 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 once in a day?
“People should ask the outgone 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 employments for our teeming unemployed 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 salary, owing them two months’ salary 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 salary, preferring to use N3.3bn borrowed fund to provide luxury for himself, his wife and children alone.
“This is wickedness!
“Most importantly, did our late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom Fayemi and his so-called progressives claim as their role-model live in any government house, not to talk of building an Emperor-like House for himself? Did late Michael 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 would not like to waste public fund to provide luxury for themselves.
While reiterating Governor Fayose’s avowed commitment to the masses, Olayinka said; “Left for Governor Fayose, he won’t use that aristocratic government house because it is a symbol of oppression in itself. He 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 let me assure you Governor Fayose will not hide himself from the masses” Olayinka declared.
