Fayemi not a democrat - PDP lawmakers
THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday denied being involved in the paid advertorial placed to congratulate the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on his 46th birthday.
The PDP caucus under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Olatunji Odeyemi, according to the advertisement, which was purportedly signed by the 26 lawmakers and the Clerk of the House, Mr. Akintunde Famoyegun and placed in The Nation newspaper on Thursday, had described Fayemi as a true democrat.
But, while reacting to the advertorial on behalf of the PDP lawmakers, Hon. Bisi Kolawole, while speaking with Nigerian Compass on phone, denied being signatories to the advertorial, claiming that they were never consulted by their Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) counterpart before publishing the advertisement.
According Hon. Kolawole, who is the House Committee on Public Account, said, while it was not a bad idea to congratulate the governor on his birthday, the action was borne out of mischief as the PDP lawmakers were not carried along before the advertorial was published in the newspaper.
“It was even very wrong to have described him as a true democrat, for God's sake, what has he done to have called for using such adjective to describe him, someone who has been doing things without recourse to the house or a governor who does not believe in the rule of law.
“Governor, who get to office with the court pronouncement only to work contrary to the same court orders, is such person better describe as a true democrat or maybe I don't understand the word democrat, but what I know is that we, the PDP caucus are not party to the advertorial.
“There was no time we the PDP caucus in the Ekiti State legislature were consulted on the idea of placing a birthday advertorial for the governor in the newspaper. I make bold to say that none of us know the content of the publication.
“Again, what our ACN counterparts did was nothing, but mere mischief. Chief Olusegun Oni was the state governor for three years and thrice he celebrated his birthday. But, there was any time the whole members of the state legislature collectively placed an advertisement in the newspapers congratulating him”, he said.
Kolawole, who represent Efon Constituency, said that the description of Governor Fayemi as a true democrat by the ACN lawmakers was a calculated attempt to discredit the erstwhile PDP government led by Chief Oni.
“How can these people go out and placed an advertorial purportedly signed by all of us and describe Governor Fayemi as a true democrat?
For all that we know, though Fayemi is the governor of Ekiti State today, but we don't see him as a true democrat because he has been flouting and violating all known laws in his administration of the state.
“Nobody can tell me or convince me that the way he dissolved the constitutionally elected local government councils in the state was in accordance with the tenets of democracy. The man has also been involved in order forms of anti-democratic actions, yet our colleagues placed an advertorial describing him as a true democrat”, he said.