APC accuses Fayose of taking Ekiti money to Dubai

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of stashing away money belonging to the state in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The party said it was the height of irresponsibility for the governor to embark on a private visit abroad during Christmas while state workers live in miserable conditions.

Specifically, the party accused the governor of refusal to pay workers’ salary for three months while embarking on a foreign trip through bloated expenses of N250m.

The Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement, described Fayose’s Sunday trip to Dubai as the height of insensitivity and wickedness by a governor who always called himself the “people’s governor.”

“It is more worrisome that the governor prepared and collected travelling allowances for 10 aides who he claimed were to travel with him to Dubai, but only one eventually made the trip while money running into millions for the remaining nine was pocketed by the governor.

“The Dubai trip confirmed our earlier alarm that Fayose is taking Ekiti money out to the Middle-East country whenever he receives allocation from the Federal Government.

“Fayose just visited local governments where he lied to the workers that the state government is broke whereas he has appropriated N250m for his needless trip and those of ghost aides after setting aside another N250m for his monthly personal security vote.

“This is a governor who, few days ago, accused his colleagues of extravagant spending through foreign trips even though he himself is the greatest culprit. This confirms our allegation that Governor Fayose is an incorrigible con artist that ever lives.”

Claiming that Fayose was dehumanising Ekiti people through anti-people policies, such as heavy taxes that could not be accounted for, Olatubosun said this was unlike in former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s era in 2013 when workers collected their December salary a week to Christmas in addition to 30 per cent of their annual basic salary as Christmas bonus.

“Fayose again conned Ekiti workers by paying 10 per cent of their monthly basic salary which translated to about N700 (seven hundred naira) to most workers while he shamelessly boasted that he had paid workers’ bonus,” he said.

The APC called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to invite the state Commissioner for Finance, its Accountant General and the Auditor General for interrogation on how the finances of the state were mismanaged.

But dispelling the allegation, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the APC’s allegation was ludicrous.

Ogunsuyi said, “The governor is on holiday like every other worker who has worked conscientiously throughout the year; it was not an official journey and it means the governor will be responsible for all the expenses, because he travelled as Mr. Fayose and not as Governor Fayose.

“The APC is talking, having lost all relevance. Every worker in Ekiti has been paid the October salary, unless the party has a different calendar, what is outstanding is November and December salaries and the people could understand the reason behind it.

“The bailout was expended as instructed by the CBN. It is left for the CBN through its audit mechanism to say anything in response to what the APC has said. They are campaigning to gain some relevance they have lost.

“They should send their petition to the EFCC, because they are the one that has power to probe and indict,” he said.