I’ll be re-elected based on my performance —Fayemi

GOVERNOR of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said that when the campaign for the forthcoming governorship election in the state begins, he will not talk about what he is going to do, but what he has already done for the state.

Based on this, the governor, in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune noted that he had an edge over whoever the opposition parties would field in the elction.

“On all counts, I am going to be campaigning on what I have done, not what I will do. Also, if you reduce it to party issue, luckily, we have all had a run at it. A party had been here for seven and a half years before I came. So, we can compare records.

“The debate can be about what was done and what I am doing. It will also be on record that the only governor who ever came here and completed projects by his predecessor is Governor Kayode Fayemi. And my logic is simple: It was Ekiti money used on these projects. So, why should I abandon them? Is it because I don’t want to give credit to the person who started it?” Fayemi queried.

Answering question on the perceived marginalisation of Ekiti State by the Federal Government, the governor noted that it was true that the state had been shortchanged across a wide range of developmental areas, but added that despite the challenges, the state remained viable.

“You do have a point that we have been shortchanged across a whole range of developmental areas. The Federal Government has 348 kilometres of roads in Ekiti. It is one of the smallest and we are on all of those roads, apart from the Ado-Ekiti - Itawure road which links Osun State.

“We are responsible for Aramoko – Ijero – Ido – Usi – Ayetoro – Otun – Ifaki and back to Ado, including Oye, we are the one fixing all these roads.

Today, on road alone, we are owed N8 billion.

“So, unequal treatment breeds resentment which a nation really doesn’t need. That is why we said for us, autonomy provides an opportunity for us to be better creative and more innovative. No state in Nigeria is unviable. I know that there is a common saying even in the media that apart from Lagos, every state is unviable. It is absolute rubbish.

“Give us our independence in Ekiti; let us go hungry until we create the opportunity that would make wealth available to us; and I think that is the only way we can build the nation; on the basis of competitive federalism,” Fayemi said.