Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State and Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Ayo Fayose, Idowu Adelusi, yesterday, exchanged verbal invectives over alleged disagreement between the governor and the Ewi of Ado, Oba Rufus Adejugbe Aladesanmi.
The monarch and Fayose allegedly had heated argument, recently, over demolition of some dilapidated buildings in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
While Fayose explained that the old buildings were being pulled down to rebuild and give the city a cosmopolitan look, some displeased residents cried to the monarch to appeal to the governor to stop the demolition.
Fayose stuck to his guns.
Criticising Fayose for allegedly having some disagreement with the monarch, APC state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, alleged that the governor has desecrated the Ewi’s traditional stool.
“All the grandstanding and rhetoric that the demolition is necessary to give Ado-Ekiti a facelift, as the state capital, is a fluke.
“The truth is that house demolition is a viable business opportunity for the governor, after facts emerged that those Fayose had so far paid for losing their homes got a small fraction of the figures that the governor quoted for compensation from the Federal Government, as refund on the flyover project.
“For instance, reports indicated that Fayose allegedly put the compensation responsibility on the contractors of the flyover project, who are his friends from Ibadan, to pay the victims for losing their homes, whereas, the money received by the victims is just a small fraction of what was allegedly computed by the contractors to the federal government for reimbursement.”
In his response, Adelusi said: “I want to state emphatically that the relationship between the governor and the Ewi is very cordial.
“Perhaps, Ekiti APC feels it can use the demolition issue to woo Ekiti people to its side. Ekiti people understand better and would never be deceived again by the APC. The APC cannot reap where it did not sow. The APC was in power for four years, it had nothing to show for It. It is obvious that the ever-growing popularity of Fayose, among Ekiti people, and the legacy projects adorning every nook and cranny of the state, has been a worry to the APC.
“If the APC thinks it can capitalise on the demolition to engender discord between the Ewi and the governor, it won’t work. The Ewi and people of Ado Ekiti are happy with the governor for doing what the APC failed to do when it was in power. The governor has been moderate and with no malice in whatever he does to bring development to the state capital.”