…Fayose didn’t owe Ekiti workers a dime – Adelusi
From: Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Adebayo Orire, and Press Secretary to Governor Ayo Fayose, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, on Tuesday, locked horns over the Christmas’ clothes for 20,000 children the governor is currently distributing to children of the less privileged across the sixteen Local Government Areas of the state.
The governor is also taking Santa Claus, popularly called Father Christmas, with some gifts to the children in all the 16 local government areas of the state.
But Orire described Fayose’s gesture to the kids as ‘dehumanising’, saying paying the salary arrears of workers should have taken priority over the Christmas largesse.
“Salaries of six to eight months are being owed all facet of workers in local government areas, primary and secondary, civil service, colleges and and university. But what our governor is doing is to take N100 million Naira and pretend as if he is getting Christmas clothes for 20,000 children. In the first instance, how is he going to get the 20,000 children? How is he going to show us the correct number he gave out? How is he going to determine their sizes? What age brackets. He said doing the Christmas thing cost N10,000 per head, meaning that for 20,000 children, he would be spending N200 million.
“He should have rather given the parents of these kids the N10, 000 each and see what they would do with the money for Christmas celebration. Many of them would even be able to buy books for their children,” he said.
In a swift reaction, Adelusi described Orire’s comments as coming from a parochial mind full of personal hatred for the governor and lacking progressive thought for Ekiti people.
Fayose’s CPS, who reiterated the governor’s consistent declaration that he would not leave the seat of power owing salaries of workers, reminded Orire that: “Fayose didn’t owe Ekiti workers a dime when he left Ekiti after more than three years of purposeful leadership in 2006. He even left over N10 billion in the treasury, contrary to ex-governor Kayode Fayemi, who was there for four years and not only committed the state to 20 years of refunding huge debts of billions Naira and Dollars, but also to three months unpaid salaries. Besides, Ekiti is only owing five months and not the only state owing. Others are owing more than a year arrears.”
On Orire’s claims on the Christmas clothing, Adelusi said: “The man (Orire) has been blind-folded by his elitist posture and approach to the plight of Ekiti people. Reality on ground is that many Ekiti poor parents cannot afford to provide Christmas clothes for their kids. Our poor people find themselves in this mess as a result of the squandering of the state’s treasury by the immediate past APC government.
“Besides, the on-going exercise has boosted economic activities in the state and provided temporary employment and wealth for hundreds of local tailors and clothes sellers governor Fayose had patronised in executing the project. This is against the ways of the APC who rather take such projects to outsiders and rob our people of benefiting from its huge profits. The kids and parents who are benefiting are happy with Mr. Governor and his people oriented policies, so our critics should shut up for having no progressive ideas,” he said.
Alleging further, Orire a medical doctor and governorship aspirant for the 2018 gubernarotial poll said, “Giving Christmas clothes to Ekiti children is disgracing us as a state in Nigeria where parents cannot afford Christmas clothes for their children and to think that Ekiti is one of the states in Nigeria most developed intellectually and cerebral wise. This is degrading us.
“Fayose thinks he is being street wise or popular, but our people now knows better. They cannot be cajoled again, ” he said.