The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State yesterday indicated its resolve to sue Governor Ayodele Fayose for what it termed “reckless manner in which state funds are spent”.
The opposition party said the governor would explain his fabricated figures on the state’s debts, which it said was aimed at deceiving the people and undermining immediate past governor now Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, in court
Reacting to claims by Governor Fayose’s spokesman, Lere Olayinka, that Fayemi plunged Ekiti into debts without any commensurate projects to show for it, the Ekiti APC spokesperson, Taiwo Olatunbosun said, in a statement Thursday, that it was only the blind that could not see the developmental projects of the former governor.
The party further accused Fayose of telling tall tales, saying his claim that the state’s debt profile was N232 billion, contradicted the N18 billion quoted by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
“Fayemi did not borrow to pay salary. He received awards from many international bodies, including the United Nations and top Nigerians, for the feats he recorded in development projects, the last being the budget transparency award that Fayose tried to usurp.
“Fayose lied that Fayemi at a point collected N9 billion as monthly federal allocation. The records are there that Ekiti’s monthly allocation remained N2.8 billion throughout and the biggest being N3.2 billion when excess crude oil fund was shared among states.
“The former governor owed one month salary, and that was September 2014, and this was as a result of Fayose as governor-elect writing the banks not to honour Fayemi’s credit facility to pay workers and the banks after receiving the allocation for the month in question”, Olatunbosun explained.
Mr. Olatunbosun noteed that “Fayemi paid N2.2 billion monthly for salaries, pensions and subventions to higher institutions throughout his tenure.
“With thousands of workers losing their jobs and many social services suspended when Fayose became governor, the monthly wage bill has reduced to less than N2 billion contrary to the N2.6 billion Fayose claims is the monthly wage bill”.
He, therefore, challenged the governor to produce the state’s debt figure different from the N18 billion the Debt Management Office (DMO) declared, saying Fayose was not speaking the truth by claiming the state’s debt stands at N232 billion.
“This is a man who has introduced all manner of taxes that he can’t account for, yet he comes everyday declaring that Ekiti is broke.
“We hereby issue him a deadline of seven days to render accounts of monies received since he assumed office, including taxes he imposed on the people.
“The civil servants who he owed three months’ salaries and allowances as well as Ekiti people deserve to know how their money is being spent.
“Failure to do this will compel APC to mobilise civil society groups and men of good conscience to press for the investigation and prosecution of Fayose”, the statement said.
