Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State had a rough time with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State on Sunday as the party accused him of trying to deceive workers in the state with phony verification exercise to hide his inability to pay their salaries as he had promised.
The party said Fayose had engaged in several workers verification exercise with nothing to better the lot of the workers in the state.
The State APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the Governor engaged in deliberate falsehood concerning the state’s financial status
Stressing that former Governor Kayode Fayemi carried out verification exercise just once using biometric auditing and that this brought sanity to wage payment system, the APC Publicity Secretary said Fayose had embarked on verification exercise three times within seven months, the workers having negative tales to tell.
Olatubosun saidd: “We have heard the governor say that the state was broke and we can’t find merit in that declaration because savings in all the empowerment schemes cancelled by the governor, the number of workers in thousands that were sacked and drastic cuts in the allowances and running grants of workers, including traditional rulers, would have saved the state millions of naira.
“We in APC pity the workers, including pregnant women, who queue endlessly in the sun waiting to do this ill-conceived verification exercise.
“The governor assured that 48 hours after the exercise, the cleared workers would receive their pay.
“But two months after some workers completed the exercise, the governor has refused to pay, instead he is keeping workers on queue for hours in the sun for the salary that would not come. As a result, the workers have become confused, dejected and despondent.
“Ekiti people have heard how N650m is being deducted from source to pay the governor’s election contractors. For six months, Fayose didn’t pay kobo on the purported Fayemi’s over-bloated debts.
“Savings in millions are made from cuts in workers and Obas’ allowances and running grants, including the savings in millions from thousands that lost their jobs. Social security for 20,000 elders was also cancelled by the governor.
“Many youths empowerment schemes that cost Fayemi millions of naira were cancelled by Fayose.
“Streetlights supply is now for three hours daily. Fayemi ran it for 12 hours. Fayose has stopped funding security agencies which has led to high crime rate in the state.
“Almost all the ongoing road constructions were fully paid for by Fayemi while Fayose cannot claim to have awarded any contract.
“The dividends of democracy Fayose has given to Ekiti people in the last eight months is brigandage, thuggery, blocking of highways, kidnapping and crushing of the judiciary and the legislative arms of government.
“He collected N22 billion refund on federal projects while he also collected N2billion Ecological Fund which Fayemi did a lot to access without success. The question is, what is the governor doing with Ekiti money.”
The APC in Ekiti also castigated the Governor for making reference to Osun State, which is also owingsalaries and pensions running into several months.
But the State Government described as shameful, the persistent claim by the APC in the State that Governor Fayose was deceiving workers with the verification exercise, saying the party should stop acting shamelessly.
Through the Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the State Government said over 1,000 fake workers have already been discovered on the payroll that ought not to be receiving salary.
The government said: “over 250 workers that are already dead have been receiving salary through the e-payment system introduced and contracted to a
Lagos based company by the immediate past APC government.”
The governor’s aide, who urged the APC to first remove the “timber in its eyes before aspiring to remove the toothpicks in other people’s eyes,” said the party should prevail on its governors in neighbouring states to pay workers that are owed as much as right months salary.
“We commenced workers verification exercise last month and we have kept faith with our covenant with the workers by paying the April salary of those already cleared.
“As at today, we have discovered more than 1,000 people that were receiving salary fraudulently, out of which over 250 are dead.
“The over 1,000 fake workers have now been deleted from the payroll and the exercise is still ongoing,” the government said.
On the claim by the APC that the State Government received N22 billion from the Federal Government as refund for construction of federal roads in the State, Olayinka said: “only a demented mind would believe that a refund of N22 billion was made by the Federal Government on N11 billion road project.
“For instance, Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki Road on which they claimed Federal Government refunded N22 billion was awarded by the Engr Segun Oni government for N7.4 billion. In 2013, the APC government of Dr Kayode Fayemi increased it to N11 billion, claiming the increment was to ensure quick completion of the project.
“So, How could federal government have refunded N22 billion on a N11 billion road project?
“These people just love to tell lies, hoping that they can again lie their way into the hearts of Ekiti people, but the people already know them and their stock in trade.”