Withheld allocation: Ekiti PDP alleges plot by Fayemi, ACN to organise protests against Reps •It’s a lie -Govt

Withheld allocation: Ekiti PDP alleges plot by Fayemi, ACN to organise protests against Reps •It’s a lie -Govt

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Written by Dapo Falade Friday, 05 November 2010

THE Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are plotting to organise series of protests against the leadership of the House of Representatives in their bid to stop the withholding of the state allocation.
Members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly had, on Tuesday, resolved to stop the monthly federal allocation to Ekiti State following the decision of Governor Fayemi to dissolve all the local government councils in the state.
The Ekiti PDP Director of Communication and Strategy, Mr Jackson Adebayo, in a release made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Thursday, said that the planned protests were aimed at stalling whatever steps the Senate may eventually take against the governor over the dissolution of the local councils.
Reacting to the ultimatum given to the National Assembly by some associations over the issue, Adebayo said: “Part of the plan is to mobilise people from different places to the National Assembly with claims of being members of the Conference of Nigeria Political Party (CNPP) and other fake groups for the protest.
Explaining that about N250 million had been allocated for the serial protests, he added that some students from some tertiary institutions from the Ondo-Ekiti state axis were being mobilised for the same purpose.
“We have heard from a reliable source that students of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti have been approached for the same purpose, while a student activist from Akure has been assigned carry out the mobilisation from the Ondo  State axis”, he said.
However, the state government, speaking through the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Fayemi on Media, Alhaji Mojeed Jamiu, said it was a lie that anybody was planning protests.
“It is a lie; it is the figment of the imagination of Peoples Democratic Party’s  hatchet men. Ado-Ekiti is peaceful. Nobody is protesting or planning to protest. In fact, government just disclosed that by tomorrow (today) all civil servants will have received their salaries. So, what will be the basis of any protest?” Jamiu, who spoke in a telephone interview, queried.