Governor Ayodele Fayose has asked the people of Ekiti State to ask his predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi what he has done with his position as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the last one and half years.
Fayose insisted that Fayemi, who is the Minister Mines and Steel Development, had not impacted positively in the State, particularly in helping to tap the huge mineral potentials of the State as a man superintending over the Ministry.
He also dropped a bomb shell that critical stakeholders loyal to Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi’s group in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will defect to another party, if Senator Ali Modu Sheriff wins the appeal pending at the Supreme Court.
The Governor said these on Wednesday while interfacing with youths between ages 18 and 22 at the government’s house ground in Ado Ekiti.
Fayose said his predecessor was holding the ministerial position in trust for the people of the State, adding that Fayemi had allegedly failed to use the position to influence Ekiti positively since his appointment.
He said: “The people of Ekiti State must ask Fayemi and other APC appointees what they have been doing with their positions. Some were appointed as board chairmen and members in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
“I believe Fayemi was aware of the mineral potentials of this State and what we expected from him is to use his position to the benefit of this state as minister in charge of mines.
“The question to ask is what have they brought to Ekiti? We have seen Fayemi junketing to Sokoto and Kanfanchan on solid minerals trip, but what has he done with the one here in Ekiti, our people must ask him. When election comes, they will say be boasting that they will win election here, this is not possible. We will show them our superiority here in politics in 2018.
“They robbed our party in Edo State and same in Ondo State. Nobody can steal our votes here in Ekiti, because I am on ground and I will tell them I am the master of the game”.
When asked whether he has the intention of leaving the PDP as being rumoured, Fayose stated that no law prohibited him from defecting if the PDP can’t be a veritable platform for him to advance his political frontiers in 2018.
“I am still a member of the PDP and still the Chairman of the PDP governor’s forum, there are no two sides to it. But the strategy for 2018 poll is strictly my own business. No law says I should not run on the platform of another party if the PDP is no longer a right direction depending on circumstances.
“If they are bent on destroying the PDP, let them go ahead but I will never have anything to do with Senator Sheriff. The party is like a vehicle and the vehicle can’t be more important than the driver”, Fayose clarified.
Meanwhile, the APC has reacted to the decision of Fayose to rename Ekiti government house on Oke Ayoba Hills, Ado-Ekiti, after the late Military Governor of the old Western Region and elderstatesman, the late Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo (89), who died recently in Lagos.
Fayose on Monday renamed the edifice and the General Hospital in Iyin-Ekiti, Adebayo’s country home, after the late nationalist, who will be buried this weekend in Iyin-Ekiti.
Reacting to the governor’s decision in a statement in Ado-Ekiti by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, APC said Fayose’s decision was in right direction and confirmation that the APC’s administration of Fayemi that built the structure thought well in giving Ekiti State a legacy that towers above other monuments in the state.
“Fayose’s choice and declaration that Ekiti Government House on Oke Ayoba Hills is the best legacy in Ekiti State is a worthy acknowledgement that Fayemi had a foresight and meant well for Ekiti State when he constructed that great edifice, which is the cheapest of the Government Houses of its generation across Nigeria. “It is also great that Fayose, who earlier played politics with the edifice as a needless Government House and who blackmailed APC led government for erecting the structure, is the same man today that is acknowledging that the building is the best legacy in Ekiti State,” Olatunbosun explained.
