TheCable

Kayode Fayemi, the immediate past governor of Ekiti state, has urged Ayodele Fayose, the new governor, to study the handover notes on his four-year stewardship before making unfavourable comments about his administration.

Fayemi described the statement made by the new governor in his inaugural speech, insinuating that the state is indebted to the tune of N84 billion, as reckless and irresponsible.

Speaking on behalf of the former governor in Ado-Ekiti, Tayo Ekundayo, his commissioner for information, said the former administration documented all credit facilities it obtained and also made them public.

Ekundayo revealed that Fayemi’s administration obtained a N25 billion bond, which was judiciously used to finance landmark capital projects across the state. He added that the state had paid over N14 billion out of the N25 billion.

Noting that the federal government owed Ekiti state under Fayemi as much as N20 billion, he advised the new governor to “study the handover notes carefully before making unnecessary noise about the debt profile of Ekiti”.

“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 truth of the matter is that our government took N25 billion 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 N84 billion. 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.”