The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ekiti State, has slammed Governor Ayodele Fayose over his streetlight fuel supply cost claim, saying he was deliberately inflating the figure, while spending less on public light supply to short-change the state.

The party raised the alarm on the heels of alleged increasing wave of criminal activities under the cover of the night in the state capital, saying the governor’s claim of spending N210million a month to power streetlights was a ploy to allegedly defraud the state.

Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun told journalists in Ado-Ekiti, on Wednesday, that the short period of light supply between 7p.m. and 10p.m. had encouraged criminals to terrorise residents at night.

According to him, “cases of car- snatching have increased, while residents lose their possessions to thieves on the streets at nights unlike during former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration when streetlight supply spanned 6.30p.m. to 6.30a.m. In the state capital.

“Ekiti people cannot continue in this reversal of fortunes since Fayose came on board. He said some time ago, during his monthly media chat, that he spent N210 million monthly on streetlights. This is a blatant lie, because the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) supply of diesel for streetlights have since revealed that only 10,000 litres of diesel are supplied monthly to power streetlights,” he said.

Accusing the governor of deceiving the public and passing over-bloated fuel supply cost to the government, Olatunbosun said the party had since discovered that three suppliers of diesel jointly supply 10,000 litres every month to power streetlights.

The APC spokesman added that even at that, Fayose was still owing the suppliers millions of naira, even though he would insist he paid N210 million monthly.

Credit: DailyTimes