Ekiti: Two ex-govs, 60 others meet in Abuja

Two former governors of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo and Chief Segun Oni, were among the 62 leading members of the All Progressives Congress, who met in Abuja, on Tuesday, as part of the moves to reposition the state chapter of the party.

The four-hour-long meeting initiated by Oni, who is the APC deputy national vice-chairman (South), came up at the party’s national headquarters.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Adebayo, who was flanked by Oni, said the meeting was convened to reconcile members who had for one reason or the other left the party.

According to him, the meeting has provided the needed tonic for the state chapter of the party to reinvent and reposition itself towards providing leadership for the long-suffering people of the state.

Adebayo said, “We held a meeting of (APC) stakeholders of Ekiti State. We had issues with some of our members that left to go and contest the 2015 general elections on different political platforms.

“We have met today and I can say categorically that, finally, all the issues that separated us at the time have been resolved and we are one big happy family now.”

Responding to a question on the absence of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Adebayo explained that the minister had sent an apology over his absence.

Adebayo said that Fayemi was meeting with the members of the National Assembly with regard to issues bordering on the 2016 budget of his ministry.

Adebayo, who spoke on behalf of the stakeholders, also expressed displeasure over the state of affairs in Ekiti.

He noted that the Ayodele Fayose-led Peoples Democratic Party administration had turned Ekiti State into a pariah state, adding that the state’s airport project was not only a misplacement of priority, but a waste of scarce resources.

Speaking in a similar vein, a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, said the meeting provided an opportunity for the progressives in Ekiti State to come together and chart a new course for the state.

Bamidele said the meeting was not about any individual but about Ekiti, Nigeria and the kind of politics the state should all be playing.

He said the stakeholders were united in the quest to give Ekiti a better deal.

Source: PUNCH.

Fayose Stops His Convoy To Interact With An Old Woman In Ekiti(photos)

Fayose justifies septuagenarian’s appointment as council boss

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has stated
that his decision to appoint a 72-year-old
illiterate carpenter, Pa Olatunde Afolayan, as
the caretaker chairman of Moba Local
Government Area of the state, was a way to
appreciate the segment of the population
which the septuagenarian belongs.
He said many elected political office holders
rode on the votes of illiterates and
insignificant people only to forget them after
assuming office.
Fayose claimed that the vote of a professor
and an illiterate is the same, hence the need
for his administration to reward those that are
members of his party, who are not educated
and give them recognition in his government.

Afolayan, who commended the governor for
the kind gesture, said his expectation was not
beyond the position of a ward chairman
because he had never gone to school for a day,
but that does not diminish his intelligence.
“I may not be educated or certificated, but I
have the experience to pilot the affairs of the
council. I promise to surpass the records left
behind by my predecessors to justify
Governor Fayose’s assertion that local people
are intelligent and visionary.”

Ekiti warns ‘Fayose boys’ over attacks on residents

Political violence returned to Ekiti State on Friday as innocent persons were allegedly attacked at various locations in the state. The Ekiti State Government has, however, called on security agencies and residents to help in arresting the people claiming to be Governor Ayodele Fayose boys. In a statement on Saturday, the governor’s Special Adviser on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, raised the alarm over some unscrupulous people now attacking innocent people, “claiming that Governor Ayodele Fayose sent them.” The State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tope Aluko, had on Friday told our correspondent how he escaped assassination attempt at the PDP secretariat in Ado Ekiti. In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday night, Aluko said, “I came out of the car and was moving towards the office when the people came from their hideout and opened fire at me in company with one of my aides. We quickly ran for cover. “The assassins quickly escaped from the scene in a car parked across the road, probably thinking we won’t survive the attack.” The state Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, however, said he had yet to receive any report on the incident. On Saturday, the state government, in the statement, said, “One Prince Bunmi Ademolaju was attacked at a popular hotel in Ado-Ekiti on Friday. The government statement read in part, “The Ekiti State Government wishes to inform the general public that some unscrupulous people now go about attacking innocent residents of the state, claiming that Governor Ayodele Fayose sent them. “Yesterday, Friday, July 31, one Prince Bunmi Ademolaju was attacked at a popular hotel in Ado- Ekiti. Those who attacked him were said to have shouted that they were Governor Fayose’s boys. “We have it on good authority that the plot of these unscrupulous elements is to go about attacking notable indigenes of Ekiti State and claiming that they were sent by Governor Fayose.” The government, who distanced itself from the reported attacks, said the trend might be another plot to discredit Fayose by those who had lost every war they waged against him. it added, “By announcing that they were Governor Fayose’s boys, the motive of the criminals has no doubt been exposed, and it cannot be anything other than to set the people against the governor. “We therefore wish to state categorically that Governor Fayose does not harbour criminals. He does not have boys anywhere, not to talk of sending them to attack innocent residents of Ekiti State. “Anyone caught attacking or assaulting residents of Ekiti State in the name of ‘Governor Fayose’s Boys’ should be apprehended and handed over to law enforcement agents for appropriate action. “Once again, we state that Governor Fayose does not habour criminals under whatever guise. “Ekiti people and the law enforcement agents should take note of this new trend of criminality obviously coming from those whose only interest is to make Ekiti State impossible just because they lost power.”

Ekiti shuts five private hospitals

Ekiti State Ministry of Health has shut five private hospitals in the state for not complying with government's operational guidelines. The affected hospitals are Devine Citadel Hospital, Ado-Ekiti; Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Maternity and Hospital, Emure Ekiti; Emmanuel Medical Clinic, Emure Ekiti; Lexical Clinic, Ise Ekiti and JOA Medical Centre, Ado-Ekiti. According to a statement from the Ministry of Information on Thursday, the clinics were sealed for offences including operating in an unhygienic environment, using unqualified and inadequate personnel as well as non-registration of their health facilities and failure to renew their operational licenses. Speaking in Ado Ekiti on the development, the Director Hospital Services and Training, Dr. Kola Adu, who led the Ministry's monitoring team stressed that any hospital found wanting would be made to face the wrath of the law. He cautioned patients against patronising unlicensed private clinics, adding that the ministry commenced an aggressive monitoring and inspection of all private health institutions to maintain a reasonable standard in the health care sector to further reduce mortality and morbidity rate in the state. Adu also charged other private health facilities in the state to properly register and renew their operational licenses, saying that the state Government would not hesitate to invoke the full weight of the law on erring proprietors. He added that the proprietors of the sealed hospitals had been directed to report to the ministry, stressing that anyone that failed to comply would be further sanctioned.