The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has warned Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop maligning former Governor Kayode Fayemi over his inability to pay workers’ salaries.
It said blaming the former governor for purportedly plunging the state into debts was a wicked manipulation of the people to justify “an unconscionable and mindless treatment of Ekiti workers while Fayose enjoys lavish life.”
The organised labour in Ekiti on Thursday began an indefinite strike to press home the demand for the payment of outstanding five months salaries of public workers.
But the governor in a state broadcast on the same day said he had no immediate solution to the demand of the workers because of the debt challenges facing the state.
However, the APC in a statement by its state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, on Monday praised the workers for their resolve to continue the strike over “Fayose’s deceitful way to deny them their entitlements.”
The party said while Fayemi borrowed for development purposes, which could be seen in roads and other development structures across the state, Fayose kept padding and spending Ekiti money on projects rehabilitation fraudulently over-priced and given to his friends and cronies while Ekiti workers were suffering.
“The Adewale Omirin-led House of Assembly approved for Fayose to take N2bn Central Bank loan for artisans and small scale traders, but up till now, he has not given one naira to anybody.
“He deceived the workers that the April federal allocation is N700m even though the Federal Ministry of Finance figure as published in the newspapers indicated that Ekiti collected N1.08bn and you wonder what the governor did with the balance of N300m.
“He has so far collected about N20bn loan which he would not disclose to Ekiti people. These include the N9.6bn bailout cash and another N10bn taken from another bank while he also denied collecting refunds on federal roads and misapplied N2bn ecological funds which he denied collecting for a long time until our party applied the FoI Act to get the fact from the Ecology Fund Office in Abuja.
“He paid one month salary from N9.6bn bailout and nobody knows what he did with the balance the same way that no one knows what he does with the fresh N10bn loan and the interest it generates in the secret account he keeps the money after vowing several times never to borrow a naira to run his government.”
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Government has invited labour leaders to a meeting to discuss issues surrounding the industrial action embarked upon by the unions.
The meeting followed a declaration by Governor Ayodele Fayose that he would invoke the doctrine of “no-work, no-pay” rule to break the resolve of the labour leaders to continue with the strike.
According to a copy of the invitation letter, the unions are to meet with the state government today (Tuesday) in the governor’s office.
It is to be attended by the chairmen and secretaries of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, the Joint Negotiating Council, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees and the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools.
The letter was signed by one Dapo Alade of the Office of Establishment and Training for the Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka.