Home About Ekiti Ministries Exco Members Governor FFTF Feedback Contact US | AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, BRIGADIER-GENERAL ADETUNJI OLURIN (RTD), THE ADMINISTRATOR OF EKITI STATE AT HIS MEETING WITH THE STATE COUNCIL OF OBAS ON TUESDAY 10TH APRIL, 2007. Chairman, Council of Obas, His Royal Majesty, the Oore of OtunYour Royal Majesties here present, I am delighted to be in your midst this morning to update you on the events of the state as we move closer to the general election that will usher in a new administration of politically elected representatives of the people. It is a great expectation of the people especially after what happened prior to 19th October 2006 that led to the State of Emergency and my appointment as the Administrator of Ekiti State. 2. I want to thank Your Royal Majesties for your cooperation and unflinching support in the administration of the state since my arrival on the 19th October, 2006. I have never had any cause to doubt your sense of responsibility in nurturing your people towards good governance, which this administration had immensely benefited from. 3. Through you, I also want to thank your numerous sons and daughters in and outside Ekiti State and in diaspora who have worked assiduously for the progress of their noble State. I came into contact with many of them, and I have no doubt in their avowed commitment that what happened to Ekiti State prior to 19th October, 2006 will never again be the portion of the good people of this State. I thank His Royal Majesty, the Oore of Otun, Oba Adedapo Popoola, the Chairman of the State Council of Obas for making it possible for me to address you today.4. The greatest business on hand today is the forthcoming general election. I could feel the excitement in the air and the anticipation of the people for a free and fair election devoid of violence and acts of irresponsibility that may send the State back into the abyss of the past.5. You will recall my address to this Council on my assumption of duty in October, 2006 in which I reiterated my desire to stick to the mandate of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to restore peace and hope, reconcile the people, encourage forgiveness and lay solid foundation for peace and progress in the State.6. Till date, I have not for once deviated from this mandate, which I consider sacrosanct to peace, orderliness, progress and well-being of the people of this State. From my experience in conflict resolution, and after the assessment of the situation on the ground, I decided to adopt persuasion rather than force to direct the affairs of the State. I had from time to time, even in the face of provocation of the government, maintained this track of persuasive governance to lead by example. In fulfillment of this, the administration had created an enabling environment for all and most especially the politicians and their political parties, a situation that is far accommodating than the predicament they found themselves between 29th May 2003 and 19th October 2006. It is on record that till date I had never applied force on any individual or group of people in the management of affairs of the state. I had cause for once to issue stern warnings to politicians who for inexplicable reasons had heightened political tension in the state and even introduced the use of gun into politicking.7. My dear Kabiyesis, today, few days to the first major election in the transition programme of this nation, I am dismayed and distraught about the activities of some of our politicians and the attitude of their political parties and followers. It is very amazing that some of these people had simply forgotten the past so quickly and had launched themselves into the same track of disillusionment that pervaded the political landscape in the months before the State of Emergency. It was a situation that nurtured the emergence of egoistic governance, that the leadership became so intolerant and irrational and that left the people in a state of fear for a very long time. Your royal esteems were not left out in the irrational behavior of the government as insult and bastardization of our forefathers’ tradition for the control of an orderly society was clearly visible.8. It is very unthinkable that some politicians had now resorted to the use of violence and the threat of violence once things don’t go their way. They are behaving as if they had just resurrected from political death forced on them between 2003 and 2006 and emerging into a new life they cannot comprehend nor manage. Just few months ago, their political posters not to talk of their pictures and billboards could not be displayed in any of our cities without spontaneous violence unleashed on them, that even unfortunately dispatched some of their compatriots to the great beyond. Is it not amazing that these politicians who have been given a new lease of life and an enabling environment are now hell bent to return the state to a pariah state of the last few years.9. I am not unaware of the spurious allegations and innuendoes being attributed to my administration and my person. I have been reading them like any other citizen of this state. If I must go by their assertions, I should now be active member of all political parties in the state and doing everything to make all of them win the forthcoming elections! This is a preposterous preposition coming from unstable political minds. To accuse me of partisanship at this moment and threat of violence to that effect is to me a preemptive noise making to their actual plans to distabilise the peace of the State. I have been reading all their comments; I have been monitoring all their disinformation being peddled among the people in the beer parlours, motor parks and many other gatherings of innocent people, pushing them to embrace violence in the event that things do not go their way. This is not politics but mischief making, to truncate the peace the people are now enjoying and return them to the state of fear and hardship.10. I have read allegations, which had been written and published by some scum of the earth and of the tabloid including leaflets being circulated clandestinely in the State. In one, they claimed that I had lifted N500m from the taxpayer’s fund, money belonging to the good people of this State to bribe the National Assembly to elongate the emergency term of this administration. How buoyant is Ekiti State with all the competing financial needs to make life more abundant that such a fund could be used for such frivolity? I am here in the state by appointment and not through election. I was here by the grace of the presidential pronouncement and not political bickering. I will end my mandate as was given to me by the presidential order that brought me here on the 19th October, 2006 and not by politics of elongation. Furthermore, my antecedent and past records cannot support this reckless claim of these spineless characters. This cannot just be me.11. Permit me Kabiyesis to now go into a matter that I had tried my best not to be drawn into since my assumption of duty as the Administrator. This has to do with various comments and accusations being issued by the former Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose from his hideout. Fortunately, I am not the only one that had been buffeted by his perverse mind in his vituperation and vitriolic attacks on personalities. He has done the same to the President of this country. My reading of Fayose since I came into the State and going into his records showed clearly that his appearance on the political scene of the state was an aberration or a misfortune for the political system of the state.12. He had treated governance with immaturity, irrelevances and high handedness that bothered on recklessness. To him, in and out of power, he sees Ekiti as his personal fiefdom and himself an emperor of the manor. He has obviously learnt nothing from his travail and has continued to reach out to people of his like mind to increase the political tension in the state.13. He has claimed severally, of which I read in the print, of imagined budget buoyancy he left in the wake on his escape from the long arms of the law in the wee hours of his impeachment day. I was not surprise of such a claim. His infantile disposition to governance made him to strut and fret his hours upon the stage of governance and he should be heard no more. He cannot discern between the mop up funds and liabilities of his government and realize that governance is a continuous business in and out of power.14. When I toured the Local Government Areas on assumption of duty, one thing was glaring and common in the demands placed before me by the people in each of the Local Government Areas. The demand that the ongoing projects left by his administration should be completed was accepted and I promised to attend to those viable. I did that precisely and I attended to viable ones, safe the moribund ones like the poultry project. He has not realised that payment certificates he left behind and the payment of same to restart and also continue these projects were the liabilities of his government. Money was borrowed from the commercial banks to fund moribund projects like the famous Ekiti Poultry Project, unnecessarily increasing the debt profile of the State. I have spent many months repaying these debts of which the last batch will be paid this month to take off the chain of debt rapped around the neck of the people. He seemed to have forgotten or pretend to forget that these were the liabilities left by him.15. I faced the same problem of recklessness emanating from budget indiscipline of his administration. The delay in the approval of the budget by the National Assembly was due to over expenditure of some sectors by his government. Even though I did all that I could for the sake of continuity to get approval for the supplementary estimate, the budget was delayed as the National Assembly frowned at this style of expenditure. It took me many visits to Abuja before the budget submitted for approval in December, 2006 was finally approved in the second week of March 2007. In this unusual situation, my administration has done everything within its power to forge ahead to provide for the needs of the people within a short time of this Emergency Rule.16. Where then has Fayose seen frivolous contracts being done by this administration? For example, in the area of road construction and in addition to the numerous on-going projects left by the last government, the following roads in your various domain are actively under construction:- (a) Ido – Otun – Omuaran Road and Otun – Erinmope Road(b) Emure – Eporo Road(c) Agbado – Ode – Omuo Road(d) Omuo – Eda-Ile Road(e) Omu – Itapaji Road and,(f) Igbara Odo – Ibuji Road 17. Equally, the award of contracts for the rehabilitation of the following roads has also reached an advanced stage: (a) Ifaki – Orin – Ora Road(b) Itawure – Okemesi Road and,(c) Ita – Ido Ajinare Road18. Other projects are being address to empower the people for self-employment in the near future. Three Cassava plants are under construction at Ijero, Orin and Eporo as pilot projects that can be replicated to enhance the peoples’ move to self-employment. In addition we have provided loans through NAPEP to the farmers and others. Tractors are now available to be hired by the farmers at subsidized rate. Cocoa seedlings are ready to be given to farmers free of charge this season.19. Please join me in thanking Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for making us to appreciate governance at the center. He graciously approved intervention fund to the tune of N1.0 billion for the state to control the gully erosion in Efon-Alaye, Ipoti and Ado-Ekiti, the towns most adversely affected by ecological problems. Also, Mr. President granted approval for rehabilitation of Ero, Itapaji and Ado Dams in the state to ensure adequate supply of water to towns and villages in the state as well as the state capital, Ado-Ekiti. The contracts for the projects had already been awarded and the contractors had mobilized to the project sites. I wish to use this opportunity to thank Mr. President for his kind gesture and his responsiveness to the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Ekiti for making us to feel the effect of the central government. 20. In addition, this government had taken the welfare of the workers very seriously. Workers’ minimum salary was moved from N6,500 to the minimum wage of N7,500 in December, 2006. Also, special allowances had been offered our doctors so that we can retain their services. Only last month, we gave facilities to the tune of N515m for our workers to buy WEMA bank shares to prepare for the raining day. The loan is payable in five years at 0% interest. The same facility was extended to you our Royal Fathers because we appreciate your contribution to the stability of the State.21. Perhaps the biggest issue in town today is the forthcoming general election. I have tried on several occasions to advise our politicians to conduct themselves in a dignifying way and make sure that politicking in the state is devoid of violence. In actual fact we had some skirmishes and my reaction was predictable. I issued very stern warning to the stakeholders irrespective of political parties.22. I am never the less still unimpressed by the utterances coming from politicians in the state. They have raised the level of tension by threats of violence if things don’t go their way. Whatever the situation, I don’t believe any Ekiti man, with what the people went through in the past, will threaten the use of violence to resolve any issue that could develop. The peace we have today in Ekitiland is built upon dialogue, persuasion, respect for each other’s feelings and what more the judiciary is available as the defender of the defenseless to take conflict out of our lives. I have been vilified and labelled a partisan politician and all sorts of rumours around my person which I consider a pre-emptive noise making to actualize their violent intentions. I have taken all these calmly but no one should doubt my resolve that I will do everything possible to maintain the peace and order that we have today. The government is very ready to protect the lives and property of innocent law abiding citizens.23. This is where you will come in, our Royal Fathers. The Yoruba custom of essential peace as has been laid down by our fore fathers is still very potent in our communities. No one has the right to disturb the peace of another person. You are the custodian of our custom and I very much rely on your reach to help reign in those in your communities who could not want to submit to peace and orderliness of the society. A breakdown of law and order is equally your own responsibility and cannot be a good reflection of your domain uniqueness. It is better to make peace than to make war. After every war we must still have to sit down to talk and make peace. Those of us who are eager to embrace violence must remember that it is possible to see the beginning of crisis, only God knows who will witness the end. We must therefore be able to reach out to people and call them to order.24. I promise that I will not deviate from the path of peace I have taken to administer this state. I will be with the good people of this state in their sacrifice to maintain law and order and will be prepared to checkmate those who may be bent on truncating the peace we have today. I pray that the will of the Lord be done in our lives. It is only God that can anoint a leader and that is beyond the wisdom of mere mortals. May the good Lord bless Ekiti State and give Ekiti State deserving leaders in the forthcoming general election.25. I thank you immensely Your Royal Majesties for listening and may the good Lord bless you all. |
