Apprehension As Some Fmr Gov Fayemi’s Aides Return To Government

By Ayodele Oni

There is apprehension in Ekiti state, especially among members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), over refusal of some political appointees that served in the immediate past administration to leave office.

It will be recalled that former Governor Kayode Fayemi during his last executive council meeting did not announce dissolution of the council but just commended members for a job well done.

Since his government was inaugurated on October 16, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, apart from the secretary to government that is a new appointee, others are those that served in the previous administration.

Oyebanji has recalled three commissioners that served in the previous administration on the pretext that he is looking for experienced and professionals to work with him.

Those that he has recalled include commissioners for health, finance,  culture and tourism, while he equally retained the Chief Press Secretary that has served Fayemi for close to 12 years.

One of those that has refused to leave office is Prof Rasaki Ojo-Bakare, in charge of culture and tourism, who just led a state contingent to the festival of arts and culture in Lagos.

Ojo- Bakare is currently engulfed in allegation bordering on fund mis management, but he has come out to clarify that the allegation is coming from politicians that are interested in taking over his job.

“Those who are eyeing the Commissionership seat started fighting me. They became threatened thinking that I wanted to come back , so what they wrote was 100 percent lies.

“I am not running the Ministry as a commissioner. The governor sent me on errands as a professional, which I couldn’t turn down.

“They said I embezzled over N100m as a Commissioner during Ekiti NAFEST, even when the entire budget for that event was N94 million. The same event Lagos State hosted with over N2bn. My personal fund went into Ekiti NAFEST.

“They said I am still collecting money for some Media Houses that the Ministry owed N40m during NAFEST. In case they didn’t know, the National Council for Arts and Culture was responsible for the funding for publicity, my office only supported with a token  .

“In the Lagos NAFEST that we attended, we didn’t owe any hotel in Lagos, the entire contingents in Ekiti were camped at a faith-based centre in Gbagada . 87 people represented Ekiti and the money budgeted for them was just N15m, no case of N26m hotel accommodation debt.”

Bakare, denied being high-handed or acting as a “tyrant” as a Commissioner, said he didn’t take away any vehicle belonging  to the Ministry after leaving office on October, 14, 2022.

The question being asked by the people, especially APC members is whether there are no more competent and qualified persons in Ekiti than those that are being recycled.

Those that worked with Oyebanji during the campaigns are now being apprehensive that the Governor is being railroaded to pick from former Governor Fayemi Aides.

Controversy over the choice of Chief of Staff to the Governor remains unresolved, as three camps are said to be putting forward different names for the position.

Governor Oyebanji has clarified in different fora that nobody is teleguiding him on who to appoint into his government, but people of the state have contrary view to his declaration, going by the current development.