APC, Fayose clash over workers salary

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has slammed Governor
Ayodele Fayose for refusal to pay workers their November and December
salaries.
It said such is a deliberate insensitivity to the yearnings of workers
‎to enjoy the end-of-year festivities with their families.
The party said it was ungodly for a leader to enjoy all the bliss that
goes with Christmas while denying the people he leads their
entitlements at the time members of their families look up to them for
the yearly pleasure of the season.
But Fayose maintained on Thursday that he had paid workers their
December salary, urging the APC to always cross-check its facts.
In a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, the
APC recalled that December 18 last year, all workers had received
their salaries and Christmas bonus in addition to ‎their leave bonus
while pensioners were also paid.
He claimed that the governor grudgingly asked the banks to pay workers
half of their salary on the night of December 24 after bitter
complaints from workers.
"It is evil for a leader to deduct N2,000 from the salary of each
worker for the purpose of buying them Christmas gifts only to give not
up to half of the workers ‎a chicken smaller than a pigeon worth less
than N800.
"It is callous to take convention funds for the delegates of your
party members on the guise that you are spending it for Christmas gift
only for you to keep more than half of that money in your private
pocket while your party members go hungry during this festive period,"
Olatubosun said.
The APC said the Ekiti people were suffering under Fayose with
insecurity of life and property.
Olatubosun urged NAFDAC to conduct investigation into the suitability
of the chickens the governor gave out to workers for consumption,
noting that rearing seven-month-old chickens for consumption is
cruelty against animals.
The APC spokesman said, instead of giving Ekiti youths promising
future, the governor had turned them to an army of beggars and
hangers-on. He added that while the governor did not have any youth
empowerment scheme to create jobs for Ekiti youths, he had been using
his personal mechanics from his Ibadan base to work on government
serviceable vehicles in the Government House vehicles pool.
Reacting, Fayose's Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, who
refuted the allegation, said the APC as an opposition should not be
lazy in extracting facts from the government, saying the salaries of
workers had been paid.
He said, "The APC shouldn't be a fool in reacting to issues. They
should not be lazy in getting to the roots of any matter because
everybody is aware that salaries of workers had been paid .
"Ayo Fayose is a sensitive and responsive Governor , who has started
distributing Christmas gifts to all categories of people since Monday.
So it sounds so unfathomable that a Governor that could do that would
now abandon the workers, who are critical to this government."