EKITI: Labour Party candidate condemns Fayose’s employment exercise one month to election

The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Dr. Sikiru Lawal, has condemned the decision of Governor Ayo Fayose to employ 2,000 people into the state’s civil service, barely one month to the July 14 governorship election in the state.


Lawal described Fayose’s latest move as insincere and deceitful, wondering why the governor did not carry out promotion exercise in the last three years and eight months that he has been in power.

Speaking during on a programme on Channels Television, monitored in Ado-Ekiti, Lawal urged the people to vote for him, stressing that he possesses the requisite experience to occupy the governor’s seat.

He also said the LP manifesto is pro-people and pro-masses and that it is capable of meeting the needs of Ekiti people whom he said has been traumatised by governance style of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

The former deputy governor expressed sadness that civil servants are being owed arrears of salaries by the Fayose regime. He said payment of benefits of workers and pensioners would be his first priority before executing any project.

Lawal who said he was a civil servant for 23 years and presently a pensioner said his heart bleeds everyday on the condition of workers and retirees who are suffering hardship over arrears of pay owed them.

He said: “The question is what have you been doing before now? For three and half years you did not employ anybody, so why are they employing now? Why are they promoting now?

“That is political, that is political, but by the grace of God, I will do better when I become governor. For 23 years, I was in the civil service. I wrote a paper on what I called post-retirement poverty in Ekiti when we were in government.

“The consideration of that paper was what gave birth to the payment of all outstanding arrears of benefits and gratuities then.

“When you are not paying salaries, you are not energizing the economy in Ekiti State. We are going to take care of workers because I am part of them and our party, Labour Party, is workers’ party.”

Lawal said Ekiti people are looking for an alternative platform and a third force, having tried the two major parties, the PDP and the APC.