The All Progressives Congress has accused the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, of telling lies about the cost of constructing the new Government House in Ado Ekiti.
The APC also said the governor lied about the cost of the beds in the governor’s lodge and the welfare of teachers in the state.
It accused Fayose of churning out lies to the public when he claimed his predecessor, Kayode Fayemi, spent N50m on beds in his and his wife’s bedrooms at the Government House.
It said Fayose had been living and operating from the same Government House he said was too expensive.
But the Chief Press Secretary to Fayose, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in his reaction on Sunday urged the people to ignore the allegation by the APC.
Adelusi said, “It is a concocted lies for face saving. Having defrauded the state, they should keep quiet and stop disturbing the peace of the state.
“They have looted the treasury of the state with their maladministration.”
Adelusi denied that Fayose had started living in the new Governor’s lodge as alleged by the APC.
“The governor is not living in the lodge. It is another lie. Our people should ignore them,” he said.
Fayose had on Monday last week while administering oaths on the newly appointed Secretary to the State Government, Dr Mrs Modupe Alade; and some Special Assistants branded the “N3.3bn” Governor’s Lodge as ill-conceived project and a misplaced priority.
He said the building was too expensive for the state to maintain considering the level of poverty in the state.
Fayose berated Fayemi for spending such amount of money on a building when the masses were facing serious hardship and challenge of abject poverty.
But the Ekiti APC in the statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, on Sunday said Fayose had been churning out lies to draw sympathy from the public and to discredit Fayemi.
The party said, “This is how Mr. Fayose lied about a nonexistent N50m bed in the Government House when he knows there is no bed that is costlier than two million in that lodge. Governor Fayemi served Ekiti with diligence, candour and deprivation.
“Mr. Fayose knows that he lied about the N3bn cost of the new Government House and a nonexistent N50m bed as no bed costs more than N2m in that lodge and we challenge him to release independently verifiable documentary evidence to prove us wrong.
“He knows that the money spent on the Government House is less than N2bn. Nobody could deny the fact that the Government House is a legacy bequeathed by the Fayemi administration for the use of subsequent governors.
“No wonder Governor Fayose now sleeps and works from the same Government House that he has condemned.”
The party said the statement coming from the governor that Fayemi was after self-comfort was a tissue of lies and cheap propaganda.
It said, “If there is any Ekiti governor, past or present, who is after self comfort but pretend to be a friend and lover of the masses, it is Mr. Ayodele Fayose.
“We respect the office of the Governor which Dr. Fayemi occupied with grace and candour, but if the current holder of that office chose to denigrate it by lying shamelessly, our party owe it a duty to put things in the right perspective.
“Mr. Fayose, who accuses others of preferring self comfort to the well being of the generality of the people, is a pretender and a hypocrite.
“This is somebody who bought a N43m Range Rover vehicle on credit as governor-elect and passed the bill to the state government only for him to deceive the hapless masses with a 1965 Mercedes Benz as official car on his inauguration day.”