The African Democratic Congress, ADC, Ekiti State Chapter, has expressed disappointment and condemnation over the demand by former Governor Ayodele Fayose that the Ekiti State Government provide special care for himself and other former governors.
In a statement in Ado Ekiti, ADC publicity secretary, Chief Olugboyega Aribisogan, the party described the demand as provocative, selfish, and grossly insensitive to the plight of ordinary Ekiti people.
It is unfortunate that this call is coming at a time when the state is still grappling with serious socio-economic challenges caused by years of misgovernance and failed leadership.
At a time when Ekiti pensioners are still being owed gratuities and pensions, when public hospitals are in a deplorable state and lack drugs, when pupils and students are dropping out of school due to hardship, and when many citizens cannot afford one good meal a day, it is morally reprehensible for political elites to be asking for more benefits for themselves.
The ADC noted that the demand amounts to greed and insensitivity from someone who has already enjoyed huge severance packages, pensions, and privileges at the expense of taxpayers.
It is an insult to the hundreds of retired civil servants, teachers, nurses, and local government workers who served this state for 35 years and are now dying in poverty. They deserve government care more than former governors who only served for 4 or 8 years,”_ the party stated.
The ADC emphasized that leadership is about service and sacrifice, not about what one can take from the state after leaving office.
Former Governor Fayose must understand that Ekiti’s priority at this time is development and the welfare of the masses, not additional benefits for former governors who have already benefitted immensely while in and out of office.
The party therefore called on Ekiti people to reject the demand in its entirety, and urged Governor Biodun Oyebanji to channel all available resources to workers, pensioners, farmers, and the vulnerable masses who are the real stakeholders of Ekiti State.
The ADC also called on the Ekiti State House of Assembly to review and repeal the ‘jumbo’ pension law that grants lifetime pensions to former governors and deputies at the expense of the real workers and stakeholders of the state.
