By Oludamisi Ojo.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said denied spending the state’s fund to hire aircraft in the pursuit of his presidential ambition as being insinuated in some quarters.
Fayemi described the report of his reckless expending of the state’s fund on aircraft against him as misleading and inaccurate.
The Governor was alleged to have squandered millions of state funds on a chartered flight in the course of his recent political activities.
But debunking the claim in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, Fayemi maintained that the report, titled; “Wike, Fayemi, Tambuwal, six other governors squander millions on private jets,” is not only inaccurate and misleading, but it was also bereft of facts,
Fayemi wondered how the newspaper arrived at the number of chartered flights purportedly taken by him in the course of his recent political activities, which it put at 16.
“We also consider it poor journalistic work for the newspaper to assume that all the trips to the states mentioned in the report were via private jets.
“For the avoidance of doubt, while it is correct that Governor Fayemi occasionally uses private jets to get to some difficult to reach places and when commercial flights disappoint, alternative arrangements are made for such trips, more often than not supported by friends.
“It must be stated that Governor Fayemi does not use state resources for his personal or political trips, as these are distinct from official trips.
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“While we do not dispute the role of the media to inform the public, we think that such should be done with due regard for fairness and accuracy of information.
“We, therefore challenge the newspaper to provide evidence that Ekiti State funds were used for private jets. Otherwise, we demand that the report be retracted, the statement stressed.
