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 faithfuls and political appointees.
The News
Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the dinner which ought to have begun at
7:00 pm did not record up to 20 of the expected guests till about 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 11 pm.
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
the departing governor for various reasons.
The
source, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that aside from the governor who paid
himself and his deputy lump sums as severance package, including vehicles, none
of the appointees was paid a dime.
“Besides,
all the 16 local government chairmen are battling to save their jobs in the
court, as information was rife on Friday that the incoming governor had
concluded arrangement to dissolve the councils anytime soon after his
swearing-in on Tuesday.
“The
comment of the governor earlier in the day was shocking to most political
appointees when he told them that whatever that anyone of them may likely
encounter in the hands of the new governor, should be taken calmly as such was
a prize of leadership.”
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.
Before the
aborted dinner, the governor handed over the instruments of office to the Head
of Service, Gbenga Faseluka, at a special valedictory State Executive Council
meeting at the new Governor’s Office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
Mr Fayose
said history would be kind to him the way he managed the resources in trust for
the people of the state.
He said he
would be available to answer questions on how he ruled the state anytime he is
called upon to do so.
Mr Fayose
said: “What has a beginning must have an end. It is not the number of years
spent but the quantity and quality of achievements.
“I thank
the people of the state for their cooperation and urge them to extend same to
the incoming administration. I’m a man who came, saw and conquered. I can’t
finish all, I have done my best.
“History
will be kind on me as a man who has given his best to the people.
“I will
remember all for your support, I bear no grudges against anyone.”
He also
inaugurated the new State speaker’s lodge named after Kolawole Oluwawole who
was impeached as speaker on Thursday by the state lawmakers. He was replaced with
Adeniran Alagbada.
Mr Fayose
urged the deposed Speaker to see his impeachment as a “price of leadership.”
He told Mr
Oluwawole: “If I were you, in the interest of Ekiti, I will tell them to carry
on. Everything works for good.”
- NAN
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