New Ekiti governor, Ayo Fayose sworn in, blasts Fayemi

Mr. Ayodele Fayose was on Thursday sworn in as the new governor of Ekiti State.

He was sworn in at the Kayode Oluyemi Stadium in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

He thus became the 11^th governor of the state since its creation on October 1, 1996.

The new governor was sworn in by the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Ayodele Daramola, before the enthusiastic crowd of Peoples Democratic Party’s chiefs and supporters that came from different parts of the country.

The party’s National Chairman,  Adamu Muazu, led other top members including the governors of Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Cross River, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Abia, Kebbi, Delta and Ondo States to the inauguration ceremony.

The immediate past governor of Anambra, Peter Obi, was also in attendance

In his inaugural speech, Fayose promised that his administration would recover lost grounds, repair the damage of the past government and promote concord and unity in place of bitterness, enmity and pretence in the state.

Describing his second coming as Ekiti governor as an act of God’s grace and mercy, Fayose said he got an unusual second opportunity from God to do things better. While condemning the out gone All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by Dr. Kayode Fayemi for allegedly emptying the treasury of the state dry, he said Ekiti State has been committed financially up and until year 2020

He said: “My heart bleeds today (yesterday) as I report to you, that our state had been plunged into a heavy debt dungeon of over N57.45 billion by our own brothers and sisters. There were wasteful and unproductive expenditure of huge sums of money. My intention is not to join issues with the immediate past administration which was substantially responsible for this debt burden.”

Appoints SA on Stomach Infrastructure

Declaring his intention to appoint a Special Adviser on Stomach Infrastructure, the Ekiti Governor said the Fayemi administration distanced itself from the people and in turn, accused him of using stomach infrastructure to woo electorate at the poll.

… appoints SSG, SAs others
Fayose, however, approved the appointment of the following people. Dr Mrs Modupe Alade as Secretary to the State Government; Mr Idowu Adelusi as Chief Press Secretary to the Governor; Owoseni Ajayi as Special Assistant to the Governor on Legal Matters; Mr Kayode Oso as Special Assistant to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure; Mr Sola Owoeye, Special Assistant to the Governor on Protocol; Mrs Sola Olowookere, Personal Assistant to the Governor (Abuja); Chief Toyin Ojo, Special Assistant to the Governor on Finance; Mr Sunday Anifowose, Personal Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties and Stomach Infrastructure; Mr. Sunday Omosilade, Personal Assistant to the Governor on Domestic Matters; Mr Lere Olayinka, Special Assistant to the Governor on Information and Social Media. The appointments took immediate effect.

Speaking further, Fayose expressed his reservation over the creation of additional 19 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) by the immediate past government, saying the case is in court but he would allocate the state resources to the initial 16 constitutionally recognized local governments until the court’s pronouncement.

“Our party considers the hurried creation of 19 LCDCs, after the former governor lost the June 21 election, as gratuitous afterthought of a bad loser. It smacks of political subterfuge masterminded in utmost bad faith.

“But at the moment, the matter is subjudice and as law-abiding citizens, our government will not do anything that will render the decision of the courts nugatory.

“However, pending the pronouncements of the courts, the new administration shall be guided by the provision of Section 3 and Part1, First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution on the list of local governments in Nigeria in the allocation of resources to that tier of government.”

Fayose, who condemned most of the policies and decisions of Fayemi in the twilight of his administration which included the elevation of eight civil servants to the position of permanent secretaries, directed the Head of Service, Mr Olubunmi Famosaya to revert all the promotions made by Fayemi after the June 21 election to their former status.

“Consequently, my government shall review all public service personnel issues including appointments, promotions, and discipline which were hurriedly effected after the governorship elections.”

The new governor promised to introduce free education from primary to secondary school, alleging that education had receded abysmally during the regime of Fayemi.

He equally promised to introduce free health programme in public hospitals for children from ages 1-5, pregnant women and the physically challenged.