From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Labour Party ( LP) and member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, has described Governor Kayode Fayemi’s intention to create more local governments, few months to the expiration of his tenure, as attempt to set the people of the state against the incoming administration.
Bamidele said for Fayemi to have mooted the idea of creating more local councils at the twilight of his administration, it confirmed that he is insensitive to the plights of Ekiti people.
Fayemi, who lost the Saturday’s election to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Ayodele Fayose, would bow out of office on October 16, 2014.
The outgoing governor received a report from the Local Government Creation Committee, chaired by a retired High Court Judge, Justice Akin Ajakaye, recommending the creation of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) from the existing 16 Local Governments in the State.
Bamidele, in a statement released in Ado-Ekiti by his Media Aide, Ahmed Salami, said he expected the outgoing governor at this critical time to concentrate his energy on how to combat the rising wave of youth unemployment in the state rather than trying to create unnecessary impediment for the coming administration.
The lawmaker said Fayemi would do a great disservice to the state if he carries out the policy, when he knew that he had already incurred N25 billion debt for the succeeding government to defray.
Bamidele said, “The purported resolve of Governor Fayemi to create more Local Governments in the twilight of his administration is ill-timed and he has to forget about it if he truly means well for Ekiti and its development.
“This move only confirms Fayemi’s insensitivity to sustainable development in the State because he is embarking on a policy that can bring internal strife and brew animosity that can consume the present government and create serious impediment for incoming government.
“This is a governor who superimposed himself on the entire state by appointing his cronies as local government caretakers and supervisory councilors, denying the third tier both financial and administrative autonomy as stipulated by the law of the country. It is on record how Fayemi maneuvered their finances and manipulated the council personnels in the local governments which prompted massive protest votes against him on Saturday”.
