Cabinet support: Fayemi denies Bamidele’s claim

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has denied the claim by a member of the House of Representatives and governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the June 21 poll in the state, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, that he had the support of key members of the governor’s cabinet.
In a statement by Fayemi’s media aide, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, the governor said the claim was aimed at causing disaffection between the governor and members of his cabinet.
The statement issued on Monday evening read, “ On the claim by the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, that majority of the members of the state executive council are on his side, it is obvious that this claim is not only puerile, it stands logic on the head.
“How can you have majority of the exco members on your side and they are ashamed to identify with you publicly. That is a badly concocted lie, quite idiotic.
“I can tell you that the entire members of the state executive council are solidly behind Governor Kayode Fayemi, because they are part and parcel of the administration and the re-election campaign. And you see them with him at every rally and also playing leading roles in the house-to-house campaign.”
On the gale of violence in the state, Oyebode said the trend was a deliberate attempt by one of the aspirants who in the bid to hide his inadequacies had resorted to violence, name dropping and cheap blackmail.
Meanwhile, Bamidele has promised to conduct local government elections within
his first six months in office if elected as the governor.
He made this promise in a statement made available to our correspondent on Tuesday by the Media and Publicity Secretary of the LP in Ekiti State, Bolanle Olatunde-Bruce.
The LP candidate said that development had eluded the grassroots because some few persons were handpicked to run the affairs at the councils.
The statement read, “Politics of lies and deceit will not help our dear state, hence it should be discouraged. The LP governorship candidate, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele is confident of taking over the seat of governance in Ekiti via the ballot box, come June 21, 2014.
“He urged the civil servants in the state to cast their votes for the Labour Party with a promise to conduct credible, free and fair local government elections within its first six months in government.”