"Ekiti has no economic direction under Fayose"

A Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress and the son of the former Ondo State Governor, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, on Wednesday declared that Ekiti State has no economic direction under the administration of Governor Ayodele Fayose, saying that the Governor’s continuity agenda will fail because he has not performed satisfactorily to merit such feat.


Fayose has endorsed his deputy, Prof Kolapo Olusola as his preferred candidate for the 2018 election.

Olumilua, a governorship aspirant and former Senior Special Assistant on Project Monitoring to ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi, observed that the state under Fayose lacks a clear cut economic focus, and this he said accounted for high level of poverty in the state under the present government.

He said his former principal, Fayemi lost the 2014 governorship election, because some foreigners were appointed into his cabinet, saying “this made some home based politicians to feel aggrieved and
worked against us during the election”.

“The APC members were so aggrieved to the extent that they worked against us on the day of election. The defection of Hon Opeyemi Bamidele also affected us. But this time, we will put our house in order”, he added .

Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, Olumilua regretted that the government under Fayose have not done enough in the areas of agriculture and youth empowerment as witnessed under the past APC-led governments.

Olumilua added that he expected the State to be making progress in rice production like Kebbi, Ogun and Lagos States , because Ekiti has a comparative advantage owing to favourable climatic and soil conditions.

“The largest employer of labour in Ekiti is agriculture, but what have we done about it ? Israel is a desert but it exports food items even Nigeria used to import from there. Ekiti has one of the best climate in the world, so if properly harnessed can feed Africa.

“It is sad that nothing is propelling our economy, even foods are more expensive in Ekiti, a majorly agrarian environment than in Ibadan and Lagos”.

He said Ekiti core values of industry and scholarship are gradually being eroded, saying all these will be critically addressed to make the state regain its lost glories.

Olumilua added that the former first lady, Mrs Bisi Fayemi fought tooth and nail to give recognition to women and prevent violence against women through initiation of laws to give them freedom.

“I am going to bridge that gender gap by giving 40 per cent of appointments to women so that they can exhibit their potentials”, he promised.

On the anti-graft corruption of the APC government, Olumilua urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be more proactive to ensure that looters have no breathing space under the APC-led federal government .

Olumilua stated that President Buhari has done well in the area of loot recovery but added that enough corrupt individuals must be committed to jail to serve as deterrent.

“The reason why Nigerians thought the anti-corruption war is not working is that enough people have not been jailed for corrupt practices.

“By the time one sacred cow is jailed, others will sit right. I observed that the reason why corruption has not gone down was that there are no consequences for treasury looters and this perspective
has to change”, he said .