The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has slammed Governor Ayodele Fayose over his streetlight fuel supply cost claim.
It said the governor was deliberately inflating the figure while spending less on public light supply to short-change the state.
APC’s said its alarm came on the heels of increasing wave of criminal activities under the cover of the night in the state capital, adding that the governor’s claim of spending N210m a month to power streetlights was a ploy to allegedly defraud the state.
APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement that the short period of light supply between 7pm and 10pm had encouraged criminals to terrorise residents at night.
According to him, cases of car snatching had increased while residents lose their possessions to thieves on the streets at nights unlike during former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration when streetlight supply spanned 6.30pm to 6.30am in the state capital.
“Ekiti people cannot continue in this reversal of fortunes since Fayose came on board.
“The governor said sometime ago during his monthly media chat that he spent N210m monthly on streetlights. This is a blatant lie because NUPENG suppliers of diesel for streetlights have since revealed that only 10,000 litres of diesel are supplied monthly to power streetlights,” he said.
Accusing the governor of deceiving the public and passing over-bloated fuel supply cost to the government, Olatunbosun said the party had since discovered that three suppliers of diesel jointly supply 10,000 litres every month to power streetlights.
He added that even at that, the governor was still owing the suppliers millions of naira, even though the governor would insist he paid N210m monthly.
Olatunbosun quoted NUPENG’s letter of August 12, 2015 to the governor pleading to be paid N71,094,750.00 on diesel supply, failure of which they would stop supplying diesel with dire consequences, including economic hardship, insecurity, panic buying and storage of fuel at home with attendant risk of fire outbreaks.
Describing Fayose’s claim of spending N210m monthly on diesel as callous for a governor who claimed to be friend of the masses, the party’s spokesman said it had been confirmed that fuel supply cost per day totaled only N43,000 per day as against N7m being claimed by the governor.
Quoting another source, Olatunbosun explained: “Only 10,000 litres are supplied monthly to power the streetlights in Ado-Ekiti. A litre is N130, meaning N1.3m is spent on diesel every month.
“If you divide that amount into 30 days making a month, then a total of N43,300 is spent on diesel per day, but to the chagrin of the unsuspecting public, the governor is claiming N210m monthly for the supply of diesel.”
The party’s spokesman urged the governor to be transparent in his financial dealings and stop passing over-bloated bills to the government for his personal benefit, while the people suffered.
He also urged the governor to spend the money being claimed from the treasury to buy diesel to ensure streetlights supply in Ado-Ekiti at night to tackle insecurity and improve late evening business activities in the state capital.
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