Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has promised to tone down his criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari “due to the intervention” of Babatunde Fashola.
Fashola, who is the minister of power, works and housing, visited Ekiti on Thursday to inspect some projects.
Promising to exercise patience with Buhari’s government, Fayose said he does not expect all developmental projects in Ekiti to be fixed in one term.
“We would be praying for your success, there is nothing to ask, because you’ve said it all, and we don’t expect you to do all in one term,” he said.
“If we would be getting this much help, we won’t be criticizing the federal government like this.”
“Maybe because of you, I will tone down. But remember that a blind man has no way of knowing until it gets to his mouth. He would say what you promised me is already in my mouth.”
“We appreciate you, I don’t want to demand too much… From your statement you have mentioned two key roads, without them, there is no Ekiti, there is no Ondo.”
Speaking earlier, the minister, who is currently inspecting projects in the south-west, pledged the commitment of the federal government in supporting every state in the federation to achieve “social, developmental and economic objectives”.
“The federal government is not in competition with any state government; we are here to enable, to support and to assist,” he said.
“Our representatives in your state, our ambassadors, and that is why I said we should visit you first.
“Here is the one who is mandated to ensure the roads in this state are safe, they are free from potholes and so on and so forth.”
“I therefore, will start by asking you to treat him the way you treat other ambassadors who visit your state.”
Some of the projects both men inspected were the Fajuyi Flyover and bungalow constructions under the national housing program.