Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and his predecessor, Peter Ayodele Fayose, have descended into a war of words over the financial status of the state, with the governor again accusing his predecessor of allegedly plundering N18 billion Paris Club refund he said was paid the state by the Federal Government.
Governor Fayemi, who spoke while featuring on the December edition of a live radio programme tagged: “Meet your Governor”, expressed worries over how Fayose could not defray the backlog of workers’ salaries with such money but rather preferred to allegedly divert it for other use.
Fayose had left office on October 16 owing between four and eight months salary and pension arrears.
But Fayose, through his aide, Lere Olayinka, while reacting to the accusation claimed that Governor Fayemi’s government had allegedly collected over N30billion as a refund on federal roads construction, arrears of Budget Support and Paris Club refund, saying “he should pay workers salary with the money instead of lying against his predecessor.”
He said the claim that Fayose collected N18billion Paris Club refund and squandered it, was “a weal attempt at deceiving the people.”
He said: “Instead of his weak attempt at deceiving the people, as usual, the governor should rather explain to Ekiti people, especially the workers why he prompted the Federal Government to withhold N2.1 billion arrears of Budget Support and N14.1 billion Paris Club refund, which was approved for payment to the state in June this year.”
Fayemi, in the programme aired live on radio and television stations in the state, said he had not collected any refund and asked those claiming that he did to come up with evidence of such receipts.
Fayemi said: “Let those making the allegation came with verifiable proofs to substantiate their claim. Let them come with evidence. I have not collected any money in the fashion of road intervention or Paris Club refund.
