The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has urged his successor, Ayodele Fayose, to study the handover notes on his four-year stewardship before passing unfavourable comments on his administration.
According to Dr. Fayemi, the statement made by the new governor in his inaugural speech suggesting that the debt profile now stands as N N84billion was reckless and irresponsible.
Speaking on behalf of the ex-governor in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Tayo Ekundayo, Fayemi’s Commissioner for Information, said all credit facilities obtained by the former administration were not only documented but were equally made public.
Ekundayo recalled that Fayemi had approached the capital market in Lagos to obtain a N25billion bond which he claimed was judiciously used to finance various landmark capital projects across the state.
He added that the Federal Government owed Ekiti State under Fayemi as much as N20billion, noting “Fayose should study the hand-over notes carefully before making unnecessary noise about the debt profile of Ekiti”.
Ekundayo said over N14billion had been paid out of the N25billion.
He advised the new governor to settle down for business of governance rather than engaging in “cheap propaganda”.
“Fayose should know that he has assumed a new status which is quite different from where he was before.
“What I will advise him to do now is to settle down and see how he would improve on the legacies of the Kayode Fayemi administration”, he said.
The ex-commissioner said further: “The truth of the matter is that our government took N25billion from the bond market and that is open to the public. We have paid about N14 billion out of it and the Federal Government is owing Ekiti nothing less than N20 billion.
“I have been hearing that the debt profile of Ekiti State now stands at N84billion. I want to say that it is nothing near that figure. We have noticed that tendency in the past, but we have refused to join issues with him.
“It is too early for Fayose to be talking about us. He should understand that there is a difference between being a candidate of a party and a chief executive of a state.”
