The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has asked Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop deceiving workers over payment of their salaries and entitlements, saying persecuting union leaders for demanding workers’ rights is a needless provocation that can rupture peace in the state.
It warned that sending security agents after union leaders was a fascist conduct capable of forcing citizens to an act of rage for a slide to anarchy.
Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement at the weekend that union leaders had a responsibility to the work force and they had acted constitutionally in defence of workers.
Warning the governor, Olatunbosun said his inconsistent figures on the state debts and non-transparent manner in the conduct of government’s business were enough reasons for workers to lose faith in him.
He described Fayose as a serial liar, slamming the governor for crediting workers’ accounts with their salaries only to withdraw the money after heavy media hype.
Citing last week payments of two months salaries into workers’ accounts and later withdrawing payments, the party accused the governor of fraudulent conduct to sustain his grip on the “thoroughly abused” people of Ekiti people.
He said: “This is not the first time the governor is doing this to workers. He did it to primary school teachers last year when he learnt that they were to embark on strike.
“That is what he did last week after learning of strike plan by teachers after they refused to help him in a solidarity rally to save him from Ekitigate probe.”
Accusing Fayose of playing games with the lives of the workers, Olatunbosun said: “The governor that said the state was broke suddenly paid two months salary after learning that the teachers were bent on embarking on protest over failure to pay their salary arrears, even though he quickly reversed a month salary from their accounts after workers were celebrating payment of two months arrears.
“We reliably gathered that the money he used to pay workers last week was part of the cash he could not allegedly ferry to Dubai when President Muhammadu Buhari came visiting.
“This is besides the fact that the teachers’ salary for Sept 2014 was captured in the bail-out cash, yet he refused to pay the hapless workers who are barely surviving the harsh economic condition imposed on them by his anti-people policies while his own family lives in opulence abroad.
“As we speak, Fayose is threatening labour leaders for legitimately asking for the rights of workers. While doing this, he has relocated government business to Afao- Ekiti at exorbitant cost just as he did when he was about to be impeached in 2006 while his wife is in Dubai in the last three weeks on the bill of Ekiti State even as his children live in opulence abroad riding about in exotic cars while Ekiti workers can’t afford to pay their children school fees.
“We understand that the money used to pay workers’ salary was the money for the aborted Dubai trip when it became apparent that it would be difficult to ferry the money to Dubai after Buhari signed agreement with the Middle East country on financial crimes.”
