The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has described the latest declaration by the Governor Ayodele Fayose to contest the 2019 presidential election as a pipe dream targeted at diverting the attention of Ekiti people from his alleged fraudulent administration.
The party alleged that, his presidential ambition which is coming, after earlier announcing to re-contest the governorship election to complete the remaining six months of his aborted first term was rooted in the governor’s refusal to pay workers’ salary.
Fayose had last week declared to win presidential election in the 2019 general elections, saying that he had all it takes as a man of the people to become Nigeria’s President in 2019.
The party publicity secretary in the state, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in statement on Sunday noted that with the declaration, it was clear why the governor allegedly put the state into N42b debts to pay salary, allowances, pensions and gratuity, including severance package of former political office holders, but allegedly diverted the money to projects that had no bearing to the welfare of Ekiti people.
He said: “Having known Fayose as a political merchant who always contests elections without spending his personal money, we now know the reason why he has borrowed N42b to finance projects which costs have spiraled without much progress in those projects.
“Fayose borrowed two tranches of bailout comprising N9.6b and N8.8b before taking a monthly N1.3b Budget Support Facility for nine months to pay salary but he diverted all to projects awarded to his friends’ companies in which he has interest to enable him fund his presidential campaign.
“Fayose has no other business and cannot survive outside politics and so has chosen Ekiti State as his trading post to make money with the alleged connivance of his Ibadan friends.
“Even though we know that Fayose’s presidential ambition is a pipe dream to further divert the attention of Ekiti people from his fraudulent administration after earlier announcing to re-contest the governorship election to complete the six months he lost in his aborted first term, as a political merchant, he has started day-dreaming over a presidential ambition to gain attention and distract Ekiti people from the misapplication of public funds for private advantage
