A dinner party organised on Friday night by the outgoing Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose to round-off his tenure in office was shunned by the expected crowd of party faithful and political appointees.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the dinner which ought to have begun at 7:00pm did not record up to 20 of the expected guests till about 12 midnight
Only journalists, armed security men, protocol officers and band boys of a musical group contracted to perform at the ceremony were present, as at 11pm.
Those conspicuously absent at the valedictory dinner were members of the state House of Assembly and political appointees of the governor, commissioners and permanent secretaries.
The development made food and drinks meant for the entertainment of guests to be wasted.
A Government House source told NAN that many of those invited were unhappy with the departing governor for various reasons.
The source, who pleaded anonymity disclosed that aside from the governor who paid himself and his deputy lump sums as severance package, including vehicles, none of the appointees was paid a dime.
“Besides, all the 16 Local Government chairmen are battling to save their jobs in the court, as information was rife on Friday that the incoming governor had concluded arrangement to dissolve the councils anytime soon after his swearing-in on Tuesday.
” The comment of the governor earlier in the day was shocking to most political appointees when he told them that whatever that anyone of them may likely encounter in the hands of the new governor, should be taken calmly as such was a prize of leadership.
Commenting on the development, one of the personal domestic staff of the outgoing governor, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was not in any way disappointed by the people’s attitude, as it is common with human beings.
He recalled that when the governor was still very much in power, thousands of people would always answer his call at the slightest notice, such that the venue of any event organised by him was always overcrowded.
Before the aborted dinner, the governor handed over the instruments of office to the Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka at a special valedictory State Executive Council meeting at the new Governor’s Office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
Fayose said history would be kind to him the way he managed the resources in trust for the people of the state.
He said he would be available to answer questions on how he ruled the state anytime he is called upon to do so.
Fayose said: “What has a beginning must have an end. It is not the number of years spent but the quantity and quality of achievements.
“I thank the people of the state for their cooperation and urge them to extend same to the incoming administration. I’m a man who came, saw and conquered. I can’t finish all, I have done my best.
“History will be kind on me as a man who has given his best to the people.
“I will remember all for your support, I bear no grudges against anyone.”
He also inaugurated the new State Speaker’s Lodge named after Kolawole Oluwawole who was impeached as Speaker on Thursday by the state lawmakers. He was replaced with Adeniran Alagbada.
Fayose urged the deposed Speaker to see his impeachment as a “price of leadership.”
He told Oluwawole: “If I were you, in the interest of Ekiti, I will tell them to carry on. Everything works for good.”(NAN)