Fayemi, Oni in war of words

Dapo Falade, Ado Ekiti - 15.02.2008

The Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said that the myriad of crisis dogging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in the state were as a result of the injustice and fraud surrounding its victory at the April 14, 2007 polls.

Speaking with journalists at his campaign headquarters in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday during his 43rd birthday, Fayemi said he nursed no hatred for the state governor, Mr. Segun Oni, but added that he would never condone injustice and fraud, which, he said, characterised the latter’s emergence as governor.

The AC governorship candidate maintained that the Oni-led government was at a loss on how to move the state forward and was bereft of ideas, noting that its policies were based on impulse and that it was wallowing from one error to the other.

Expressing dismay that Ekiti remained the only state in the South West without an approved budget, which, he said, was traceable to a lot of flaws discovered by members of the state House of Assembly, he said the PDP government could not achieve 50 per cent compliance in the implementation of the last supplementary budget.

Fayemi said he still maintained a cordial personal relationship with the governor but expressed disappointment with his rival for allegedly debasing the core values of the state with the various strings of illegalities allegedly perpetrated since mounting the saddle of power on May 29, 2007.

In his reaction, however, Governor Oni described Fayemi as a jobless politician who has no visible means of livelihood and had made a career of “a gubernatorial candidate.”

Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Mr. Moses Jolayemi, the governor told the Nigerian Tribune that “when you have such characters in politics, we would always have problem.

“Fayemi thrives only on international donors. He has to continue to attack government, even when it is absurd to do so, so as to continue to enjoy the patronage of the unsuspecting donors,” he said.

Oni said “yes, this government is bereft of ideas and we are happy to remain so for the good of our people. If this government is bereft of ideas and it is able to achieve in nine months, far more than what were achieved in eight years put together, we want it to remain so.”