ONDO State government on Tuesday, slammed the Ekiti state governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, over his comment, urging governor Rotimi Akeredolu to face governance in his state instead of wasting public fund on the Ekiti State governorship election.
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, who stated this in a statement issued and signed by him on behalf of the state government described the statement as “wicked and malicious”.
Olowolabi, in the statement also denied the involvement of Akeredolu in the shooting which occurred during the last Fridays rally for the Ekiti All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
The Information Commissioner also described as baseless an allegation against Akeredolu of planning to use two months of the state’s allocations to fund Fayemi’s election.
The statement read “Ordinarily, we would have ignored all the deliberate lies and falsehood, but we felt that we would not be fair to the unsuspecting larger members of the public if such lies were not debunked.
“For the information of the doubters, Governor Akeredolu, even if provoked, cannot debase his personality to a level that he will sacrifice the interests of his people for pecuniary gains.
“Instead of engaging in hypocritical activities like eating at motor parks and cutting ponmo at the market square, Akeredolu is currently applying the public resources for the betterment of the lives of the people of the state.”
Speaking on the last Friday’s shooting during Fayemi’s rally, Olowolabi said “we would like to refer Fayose to a statement by the Ekiti State police spokesperson, Caleb Okechukwu, cleared the air on the issue.
“Investigation by the police had revealed that the shooter was a police officer brought from Lagos by an Ekiti politician. For this revelation, we believe that the Ekiti governor and his cohorts will now bury their heads in shame.
“We, therefore, call the security agencies in the country to take note of the false accusation levelled against Akeredolu by Fayose and his town crier, who only a few years ago wrote a detailed report about the devious activities of his master.
“It is also important for Lere and his boss to know one very important fact, that unlike his boss, we are committed to the progress and peaceful co-existence between the state and Ekiti or aren’t we one before October 1996? The seed of discord Fayose is trying to plant between the two states will not germinate no matter how much cunning he is.”
Olowolabi said “Akeredolu reserves every right to show support for the candidate of his party in Ekiti state, just as Governor Nysom Wike and the rest are showing support for the PDP in the state.
“There is no law that prohibits that Fayose and the PDP are making issues out of this because of the smell of defeat that has overwhelmed them.”
