A dinner party organised on Friday night by the outgoing Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, to round off his tenure in office was shunned by the expected crowd of party faithful and political appointees.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the dinner which ought to have begun at 7pm did not record up to 20 of the expected guests till about 12 midnight
Only journalists, armed security men, protocol officers and band boys of a musical group contracted to perform at the ceremony were present, as at 11pm.
Those conspicuously absent at the valedictory dinner were members of the state House of Assembly and political appointees of the governor, commissioners and permanent secretaries.
The development made food and drinks meant for the entertainment of guests to be wasted.
A Government House source told NAN that many of those invited were unhappy with Fayose for various reasons.
The source, who pleaded anonymity disclosed that aside from the governor, who paid himself and his deputy, lump sums of money as a severance package, including vehicles, the appointees were not paid a dime.
“Besides, all the 16 Local Government chairmen are battling to save their jobs in the court, as they heard on Friday that the incoming governor has concluded arrangement to dissolve the councils soon after his swearing-in on Tuesday.”
Commenting on the development, one of the personal domestic staff of the outgoing governor, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was not in any way disappointed by the people’s attitude, as it is common with human beings.
He recalled that when the governor was still very much in power, thousands of people would always answer his call at the slightest notice, such that the venue of any event organised by him was always overcrowded.
(NAN)
