Despite his much advertised “stomach infrastructure”- oriented government , the current Governor of Ekiti state , Mr. Ayodele Fayose , has no empathy for the plight of the people of the state, rather he is merely “glamorizing poverty for political gains,” the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu has said.
Ojudu who spoke with senior journalists in Lagos at the weekend regretted that Ekiti known for dignity, honour and hard work has suffered its worst image and developmental setbacks since Fayose took over office largely due to the incumbent’s ineptitude, graft and his lack of capacity to understand what the office actually expects of him.
He expressed pain about the parlous state of Ekiti and the indifference of the current administration to programmes that could bring development and uplift the living conditions of the people.
“ Fayose is completely insensitive to the plight of our people. He is deploying poverty as tool to hold our people down. He is glorifying poverty by sharing N200 and kongos of Rice which he use for photo opportunities rather than embark on genuine programmes that would bring development to the state.
“How do you line up people and ask them to raise up one kilogrammes of Rice so they could be photographed , they are more dignifying ways of providing welfare for the people not to dehumanise them and exploit them for cheap populism.” he said.
According to him, the governor has consciously obstructed citizens of the state from benefiting from programmes of the Federal Government which include the School Feeding Initiative, the Rice Out growers Initiative, Cocoa Renewal etc.
On reports that he was interested in the 2018 governorship election, Ojudu said: “ I believe in due process, law and order. We are guided by the Electoral Act. We need to wait for INEC to release a time table for the Ekiti Election.
“I am currently consulting and meeting Ekiti people on how to rescue our state. First we must all be united we must all come together to remove the shame Fayose has brought to Ekiti and work in unison to restore our glory. When the time comes, I will come back again and ask if my people all want me to serve our state at that level and with that we will all be stakeholders in that project .”
