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I Never Said Fayose Will Be Probed – Fayemi
Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, has clarified his stance on the fate of the immediate past governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose.
Fayemi spoke with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Fielding questions whether he would probe his predecessor, Fayemi explained that there was never a time he said he would probe Fayose.
According to him, reports of such probe were on the table of anti-graft agencies.
“Well, I am sure I have never said anything about probe, and I do not say anything about probe.
“Looking into books is the duty of any new governor; you need to know what you found in place. I just talked about visitation panel into the education sector in the state.
“There are other sectors in the state, and it will be remiss of me not to check what we found when we came into office and share that with the citizens of the state.
“It is just accountability not probe. I am not EFCC. I am not ICPC. There are institutions that are charged with the responsibility to do that and it’s entirely up to them if they want to probe the governor or not.
“It is not my business, I leave Fayose to God. I have said that before.”
Fayose is presently being prosecuted by the EFCC over an 11-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering.
Speaking on the state of education, Fayemi said Ekiti had a tradition of being the intellectual capital of the country but it seemed to have lost that edge lately.
He said his government was working toward repositioning the sector, particularly at the basic and tertiary levels.
The governor said he had set up visitation panel in all the tertiary institutions in the state to review and recommend what the critical and challenging issues were and how government should respond to the yearnings of the sector.
He said the government was taking specific steps to address access to education in the basic education sub-sector.
“Before now, Ekiti used to be the leading state in terms of school enrollment in the country but the latest figures we received from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) makes it clear that we are lagging far behind.
“We have moved from 96 per cent enrollment in the entire country to about 45 per cent meaning that about 55 per cent of our school age children are off school.
“That is unacceptable in a state like Ekiti and we need to find out what has happened between 2014 and 2018 leading to this appalling figure in terms of school enrollment.
“And one of the very first things we are doing to improve enrollment is to make sure that all fees and levies in the primary and secondary sector are removed. So we have removed that.
“We have returned free compulsory and qualitative education to our basic education sector.”
Fayemi said the government was also doing all it could to encourage more students to come into school.
He said the state government would commence the school feeding programme in Ekiti State in order to ensure that kids that did not have the opportunity to be in school were enrolled.
“We are also ensuring that we pay salaries regularly because you cannot expect parents who have not received salaries for six to 10 months on the one hand and the children are being asked to pay education levy on the other hand to have the capacity to send such children to school.
“So, it is a double whammy for such families, we need to make sure that education which we see in our party as a right and not a privilege at least at the basic level should be free, compulsory and qualitative. And that is where we are returning Ekiti to,” he said.
The governor dismissed insinuations that he was having disagreement with the labour union in his state.
The residents who bared their minds in a chat with newsmen said critical infrastructure in the ancient town had been in a downward trend for a long time, but the narratives have changed since the inception of the present administration.
A resident of Tam-Balogun, one of the roads under construction in the town, Mr. Oduwole Lawrence, recalled the harrowing experience he and his neighbours went through in the past, especially during the rainy season, adding that with the construction of the road, life would return to normal for those living in the area.
“The government is doing well, and I love everything they are doing about the roads because roads are one of the amenities people need to move forward.
“Before now, each government had its own plan for infrastructure, but this time around, in a year or two, Ijebu-Ode has developed significantly regarding roads,” he said.
Another resident of the area, Miss Dayo Oluwaremilekun, noted that with the reconstruction of the road by the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led administration, the fear of flooding during the rainy season is over.
“Honestly, to be candid, the construction of this road is a great relief to those of us living in this area because in the past, especially during the rainy season, we could not go out, and this affected our movement. But now we thank God we can walk freely; we want to thank the state government for this,” she said.
At the 12.5-kilometer Obalende-Abeokuta road, a resident, Alhaji Kehinde Moshood Sanni, thanked Governor Abiodun for embarking on the reconstruction of the road, which he said had been in a deplorable condition for a long time, urging the governor to continue with his good works.
Similarly, Ojoye Ademolu, another resident of the Obalende-Abeokuta road, who could not hide his excitement about the ongoing reconstruction of the road, said that the road, when completed, would bring joy to the people of the area.
“We are happy; we have been suffering prior to this particular time. Now, we are glad that the road is being reconstructed. All we ask for is for the contractor to hasten up and complete it on time so that we can be even happier,” he said.
Speaking on the progress of work done so far on the roads, the site engineer for Fort Hermon, the construction company handling the projects, Michael Umeh, said work has been intensified on the 0.85-kilometer Tam-Balogun road, 1.1-kilometer Osinubi road, and the 12.5-kilometer Obalende-Abeokuta road.
He said clearing the project site, excavation, stone base work, and construction of drainage systems have been completed and are ready for asphalting, noting that rain is the major constraint impeding the speed of work
The Command’s Spokesman, DSP Mansir Hassan, in a statement, said the individual, Umar Mohammed, a native of Anguwan Muazu in Kaduna,
The police admitted that the fellow was screened and admitted into the stadium as an All Progressives Congress (APC) supporter, wearing the standard campaign T-shirt and carrying banners bearing the images of the President and Governor Uba Sani like every other supporter admitted into the stadium.
The police explained that the individual, out of excitement, breached the protocol and jumped into the restricted arena out of curiosity to catch a closer look at the President. The police said the fellow was immediately blocked and arrested by the security team.
The police said the fellow was thoroughly searched and no incriminating item was found in his possession.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Muhammad, has warned mischief makers and members of the public to refrain from spreading falsehoods or politicising the incident.
The commissioner said the matter would be further investigated.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Friday, IPMAN’s National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, praised billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote for seeing a problem in the sector and deciding to tackle it.
“If you look at the Dangote statement, it is a strong policy statement, if you read down that statement you will understand that he foresaw a lot of problems in the oil and gas industry and also decided to tackle it.
“It is something that we welcome with a lot of cheers because it is going to bring fuel cheaper at our doorpost,” Ukadike said.
Aside from fuel easily getting to people’s doorposts across the country, the IPMAN spokesperson said that Dangote’s new plan will relieve marketers of unnecessary costs.
“Our pipelines have gone for years, nobody is talking about the pipelines wired all over the country from all the whole 21 depots. Products are not being moved. We are suffering the brunt of bringing these products from the sea shores of the country where DAPMAN (Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria) members have their tank farms.
“But if you look at Dangote’s statement you will see that a heavy load has been lifted out of the independent marketers,” he said.
On Sunday, the Dangote Refinery announced the free distribution of petrol and diesel to marketers, dealers, and other large users across the country.
It said it has procured 4,000 brand-new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered tankers for the take-off of the initiative on August 15, 2025.
However, the announcement was greeted with complaints by oil marketers under the auspices of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
They said it would deprive depot owners, truck operators, and retail outlets who have special deals for the direct delivery of petrol and diesel to large corporations and multinationals.
But the IPMAN spokesperson disagreed with this position, saying that as a refinery, Dangote has the right to find a better way to get his products to the marketers.
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