Our attention has been drawn to an unsigned publication circulating on social media with the title, “Yet they claimed no one holds two positions in Ekiti APC” in which some nameless and faceless persons or group of persons falsely and maliciously allege that certain esteemed members of our party, the ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) actively hold and occupy two offices as political appointees.
Under normal circumstances, we would not have bothered to respond since the authors are too cowardly to own their spurious allegations, and our party is not in the habit of joining issues with faceless irrelevant elements of the opposition, but seeing that the intention of the undesirable authors of such inaccurate falsehood and deliberate misrepresentation of facts, is to confuse the unsuspecting public, sow discord within our united and unified party and malign the impeccable name, image and reputation of our esteemed members, we consider it necessary to set the records straight and correct the falsehood being peddled by the spineless authors before their seed of discord takes root in the minds of the public.
Before pointing out the errors in their allegation, it is important to debunk their premise. At no time did the leadership of APC in Ekiti State ever claimed that “no one holds two positions in Ekiti APC”. That statement is a figment of the author(s) imagination because by virtue of how political or public service works, it is very possible for one individual to serve in multiple roles and offices. For instance, the elected governor of a state is also automatically the leader of the party in that state just as the elected president is automatically the leader of the ruling party for the duration of his tenure.
So it is obvious that the author(s) of this falsehood are mere rabble rousers, malicious trouble makers and displaced upstarts whose only aim is to foment trouble and create a false perception of discord or discontent within our peaceful and unified structures for their own selfish agenda. We are however confident that their agenda is DOA (dead on arrival) because the APC structure in Ekiti State is well established, strong and committed to the development of our dear state and the success of the Fayemi Administration. Having established this, we want to point out their lies, deceit and unfounded libellous claims in the offensive publication.
Error 1. His Excellency, Otunba Niyi Adebayo was appointed as Chairman of the board of FAAN but never took up the appointment because the board was NEVER formally inaugurated! Now that he is currently the Minister for Trade, Investments and Innovations, his unconsummated board appointment is automatically null and void. How is he expected to resign an appointment that he was never formally inducted into in the first place?
Error 2. Her Excellency, Dr Eniola Ajayi heard of her appointment into the board of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki AFTER her swearing in as the Nigerian Ambassador to Hungary. She neither formally accepted nor was ever contacted by the institution till date.
Error 3. There is no one named ‘’OLUMIDE ELESHIN’’ in APC Ekiti State. Our Deputy Chairman is OLUSOLA ELESHIN and he does not hold any federal board appointment as falsely claimed in this publication.
Error 4. Professor Funmi Olonishakin is a distinguished daughter of Ekiti State who has an exemplary record as a renowned university administrator at the King’s College, London. She is neither a politician nor a card-carrying member of APC or any other political party in Nigeria. She is NOT on the board of EKSUTH as erroneously claimed. Rather, she is a member of the Governing Council of Ekiti State University EKSU. Her appointment to the Council was solely to enrich the management of the institution with global perspectives. It is an embarrassment to the career of the distinguished professor that her name would be enmeshed in such a pedestrian partisan and libellous publication. By the way, is her career vocational position at the King’s College, London also an APC “political appointment”?
Error 5. Ayoola Owolabi is the currently serving Honourable Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development in Ekiti State. Prior to his appointment late last year, Mr Ayoola was a distinguished civil servant who retired with merit from the State Civil Service as a Permanent Secretary after having served also as the State Accountant General as far back as 2011-2014. At NO TIME was Mr Ayoola ever appointed to any federal board in his career. The former Honourable Commissioner for Finance, Mr Dapo Kolawole was the one appointed as the Finance Director of FERMA and he has since resigned and taken up his new appointment in Abuja since September 2019!
Error 6. Amire Kolade is currently the Chairman of Ekiti South Local Government and the Chairman of ALGON, Ekiti State Chapter. Prior to his election, he held the position of Ekiti State Legal Adviser in APC, a position he resigned from in July 2019, more than 4 months to his contesting the primaries and subsequently winning the elections in December 2019. All documents to prove this is available in the records at the Party Secretariat and with the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission. So, at what time did he ever “hold two positions in Ekiti APC” concurrently as alleged in this laughable publication?
While we acknowledge that some persons mentioned on this list did hold federal board appointments before they were appointed into office in the Fayemi Administration, what the faceless and clueless accusers cleverly did not clarify was that many of them have since resigned the said appointments and that replacements of federal board appointments usually take a long process.
Most of the appointments are on part time basis and the occupiers did not receive salaries from them.
The fact that they no longer function in those positions does not automatically mean their vacancies will be filled immediately. So how does any rational and right-thinking mind hold Ekiti APC responsible for the federal government’s timetable to fill outstanding vacancies on its various boards?
As 2022 become clearer in the horizon, we are aware that various carpet baggers who are unsure of their political relevance within Ekiti politics, will increase their arsenal to attempt to destabilize the party because by their antecedents, their only known strategy to political relevance is to distort, malign, blackmail or cause strife, rancour and disaffection with the hope of fragmenting the party so they can grab a piece to ride to reckoning.
They are the quintessential “A ri je ni’bi ma da ru” (Profiteers of Chaos), destructive elements like Sanballat and Tobias who specialised in trying to distract Nehemiah from the most important work of building the wall of Jerusalem but failed; just as our able and visionary Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi cannot be distracted from the onerous task of building the structures needed for Ekiti Development; they are the Jannes and Jambres of our political history who shall not prevail this time because their folly is exposed to all well-meaning stakeholders in the Ekiti project.
We would have counselled them to desist but like the proverbial dog destined to get lost, they will not listen to the whistle of their superiors.
We therefore urge all genuine members, supporters and lovers of Ekiti State APC to please ignore the barrage of baseless campaigns of calumny either against the party, its leadership, membership and structures or against the person of His Excellency, Dr John Kayode Fayemi CON, the Ekiti State Government and all of its elected or appointed officials. As we have proven by showing their deception in this publication, every one of their future propaganda will be rooted in falsehood, prepared with envy and unleashed with blinded self-serving indignation. They do not mean well for the APC nor for the good people of Ekiti State.
Since it is a bit early to engage in unbridled, messy and aimless political propaganda, , we will deliberately refuse to be drawn into their planned arena. We urge them to cool their heels and hold their fire as we have a lot of governance to deliver for Ekiti residents who trusted Governor Kayode Fayemi with their mandate as we approach the second anniversary of his inauguration in October 2020. Nothing shall distract us.
Signed
Elder Sam Oluwalana
Director, Media & Publicity
All Progressives Congress
Ekiti State.