Fayose’s Action Does Not Speak Well – Cleric

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has been in the news of late. He recently appointed a 72 year old man as a chairman of a local government area and also criticised President Buhari calling him a “northern president.”

Not quite long after the leading opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress reacted to the appointment of a 72-year-old man as the chairman of a local government area in the state, saying that Fayose should “remove the speck in his eyes before removing the log in the eyes of somebody else.”

The APC in a press release signed by the party’s publicity secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said Fayose is “guilty of worse insensitivity to his fellow Ekiti people in the state appointments” made so far.

Commenting on this issue, Rev. Father Emmanuel Ojeifo in an exclusive chat with Naij.com, said Fayose’s appointment of a 72-year-old man as a council chairman does not speak well of a governor who intends to develop the state.

Ojeifo noted that at the age of 72 one is expected to be statesman and give elderly and fatherly advice to people as against jostling for political appointments.

READ ALSO: Fayose Refers To Jonathan As “That Stupid President”

“I do not think that is the age that people should be taking political offices. That is the age that people sit back, assess what they have done over the span of their lives and are able to play the roles of elders or statesmen who give good guidance and direction to young people who are taking up public service positions.

“Appointing someone to be a local government chairman at 72 does not speak well of a governor who really wants to move the state forward. I am not saying the person who has been appointed is incompetent but that is not the age that people should be taking public offices,” he said.

READ ALSO: Party Chairmanship: PDP Group Goes Against Fayose

On the issue of calling President Buhari the president of northern Nigeria, Ojeifo dismissed such insinuations saying that the governor was just trying to play opposition politics.

“On the tagging of President Buhari as the president of northern Nigeria, one understands that you are dealing with two people from different political parties. The ruling party and opposition party. So, this type of statements are expected especially when you are in the opposition you will always see everything done by the ruling party as wrong and that gives an opportunity to lash out at them.

“So that is well understood, whether the president is a northern president or the president of Nigeria that is an entirely different matter but we can situate this issue in the context of political parties and opposition politics.

READ ALSO: Bail Out: It Is A Lie, Fayose Slams FG

“That is well understood, and it should not be a distraction to the president if he has a clear vision and focus of what he needs to do and he is doing it right. I think that should not be a problem. Even when the PDP was in power, we heard this type of thing from the APC,” he said.

Just this week, Governor Fayose’s treatment of some government workers was heavily criticised by some Nigerians. In a video which went viral on social media, civil servants were seen kneeling, prostrating and begging Fayose who paid them a surprise visit. The governor had threatened to sack the civil servant who came late to work.

Ojeifo, however, thinks the governor has successfully sent a message to workers in the state that they have to be committed to work. He also urged the state government to fulfill its commitments to the workers by paying their salaries promptly.

“With reference to civil servants going to work late, I think he (governor) wanted to send a message that you cannot be working in this place earning your pay from the government and not give the required commitment to your work. There must be dedication, there must be commitment, and there must be patriotism. That is one of the problems with the civil service today that has brought down the entire system that people can resume at work whenever they want, close whenever they want and there is really no sense of accountability. People come to office and also use that as an opportunity to run their own personal errands and businesses when they are supposed to be working for the government.

READ ALSO: Fayose Pardons 31 Late Civil Servants

“It is like a contract, there must also be a level of commitment from the government too. If I have worked for seven months and you have not paid me my salary, where do you expect me to get money to sustain myself and family? That makes civil servants to want to indulge in other forms of businesses because they now realized that they work and are not paid as at when due and they cannot continue to go hungry so they must do business in other to sustain their families. If the government is faithful with its responsibilities, then it can demand the same from its employees. But if they are not faithful, then they have no moral credibility to ask people not to do business,” he said.

Ojeifo while calling on civil servants to also embrace change in their attitude to work, said: “I think there must really be a change in some civil servants. Everybody is talking about change but civil servants too must be willing to change. They must be willing to key into this idea of change that we are talking about. The change we are expecting is not only from the president but from every Nigerian. We must ensure that we do what is right. Whether you are being supervised or not, you resumed at work when you are supposed to resume and close from work when you are supposed to close.”

In a related development, Governor Fayose announced that he has forgiven the civil servants who resumed late to work on Monday. He pardoned them on Wednesday, August 31, at a meeting with public servants in Ado Ekiti, where the projected plan to take the bailout funds of the Federal Government was discussed.

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