Ekiti state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are sharply divided over Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s appointment of 110 new aides and the state’s alleged over-bloated cabinet.
The opposition party specifically frowned at the governor’s new appointments despite the state’s meager resources.
Recall that Oyebanji recently appointed over 110 Special Assistants (SAs), Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) and Technical Advisors (TAs). But the PDP described the exercise as an alleged attempt to siphon the state treasury for the governor’s second term ambition.
In a statement by the PDP publicity secretary in the state, Raphael Adeyanju, he said the Ekiti state governor had turned the state to a poverty alleviation centre for his party members.
“How can a reasonable government engage in this form of exercise when the ordinary citizen is gasping for survival as a result of inhuman policies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) both at the national and state levels.
“Before the recent outrageous appointments, the governor already has an over-bloated cabinet with over 21 commissioners and 14 special advisers, all in a bid to enrich his party faithful at the expense of the generality of Ekiti people,” the statement read.
While claiming that Mr Oyebanji had abandoned governance for politicking, the PDP spokesman alleged that the state governor has failed to fulfil all the electoral promises he made to the people.
“The best way to prepare for a re-election is to win the trust of the electorate by providing quality leadership with life-enhancing projects and people-oriented programmes. Instead of doing the right thing, the governor is busy running after the endorsement of sycophants and enemies of Ekiti masses,” Adeyanju said.
But reacting to PDP’s criticism via telephone, the state publicity secretary of the APC, Segun Dipe, said the opposition’s criticism was in bad taste.
“I think as usual in politics, they are crying wolf where there is none and rather, I ask them to tell us what Mr. Governor is supposed to be doing, that he’s not doing.
“Don’t forget, when he first came to power for months, they were complaining that he didn’t do any appointments. He said he was trying to fix the state, especially in terms of infrastructure and other areas before considering appointments of people,” Mr Dipe said.
He recalled that when PDP was in power, they were neither paying salary nor responding to the needs of the people.
“The whole state was in the news for all the bad reasons. But today, it is in the news for all the good reasons, courtesy of Governor Oyebanji’s stellar performance. (Premium Times)
