Daud Olatunji
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ekiti State branch, has called on former Governor Ayodele Fayose to withdraw his recent statements on local government autonomy and issue an unreserved apology to council workers.
This demand comes in response to Fayose’s controversial remarks during a television interview, where he expressed opposition to the Supreme Court’s judgement granting autonomy to local governments.
In the interview, Fayose claimed that many local government officials did not take their work seriously.
“Go to the council on Wednesday or Friday, and you will not find 10 percent of the staff of the local government in the office. They don’t come. My name is Ayo Fayose and I want them to dispute this,” he asserted.
Fayose further alleged that local government employees only showed up to collect their salaries, with some even living in different states and receiving payments without working.
Reacting to these allegations, Ekiti NULGE President Oluseyi Olatunde described Fayose’s comments as mischievous and unfounded.
“The statement is not the true picture of local government practice in Nigeria and in Ekiti State in particular. It is a mere fallacy cooked up by Fayose and his like who are opposed to the realities of local government autonomy,” Olatunde said.
Olatunde condemned Fayose’s remarks, highlighting that they misrepresented the dedication and productivity of council workers.
“We call on Fayose to humbly withdraw the vexatious statement and tender an unreserved apology to the council workers who he had discredited, blackmailed, and portrayed in a bad light in the eyes of the right-thinking public,” he demanded.
The NULGE President pointed out the developmental progress made by councils in Ekiti State as evidence of the workers’ productivity.
He criticised Fayose’s tenure as governor, accusing him of mismanaging local government affairs and impoverishing council workers through policies that delayed salary payments, despite receiving substantial bailout funds from the Federal Government.
“Fayose ran the councils like his private business and reduced the office of the council chairman to that of a puppet.
He impoverished local government workers through his obnoxious policy of using three federal allocations to pay a month’s salary, which resulted in unpaid salaries accumulating in arrears of nine months,” Olatunde added.
Expressing gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and other advocates for local government autonomy, Olatunde emphasised the importance of correcting Fayose’s misleading statements.
“We, initially, did not want to respond to the statement made by Fayose, but for the necessity to set records straight and dissuade members of the public from being fed with fallacious information that may put local government workers in a bad light,” he explained.
Olatunde concluded by reiterating the commitment and hard work of council workers in Ekiti State, stating, “The assertion that council workers don’t go to work is false and should be disregarded. Council workers have been delivering optimal services at
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