FATOBA PLEDGES TO SERVE

Chief (Barr) Sesan Fatoba, the acclaimed home-based option on the long list of APC governorship aspirants in Ekiti State, has assured his sponsors and admirers that his administration would keep to the original dreams of the founding fathers of the state if he becomes governor.              Chief Fatoba who was addressing the press after picking his nomination papers in Abuja on Tuesday recalled that the original dream of Ekiti founding fathers was to make it a self-sustaining state that would not depend on monthly allocations.            He lamented that the dreams had been the guiding principle until the state was “hijacked by those who preferred self-serving, cosmetic and ostentatious projects that have slowed down Ekiti and rendered it further impoverished”.          Chief Fatoba who served as Commissioner for Commerce and Industries in the Niyi Adebayo’s first administration in Ekiti State recalled that the strategy of the founding fathers was to identify the industrial potentials of Ekiti’s senatorial districts and promote such as the state’s economic base.                    Asked what he would do to fasten the economic growth of the state, he said he would capitalize on the agricultural and commercial strength of the state and attract agro-industries with a view to creating employment opportunities for the youths and the women.       He recalled that he retired as a Permanent Secretary in the old Ondo State and emphasised that he, as a retired civil servant, a pensioner and former Director of Budget and Planning, would regard regular payment of salaries and pensions as inviolable and be so guided in all his decisions.                       He said he intended to ensure that Ekiti sustains  a frontline position in educational growth, to take the welfare of the old people and the children serious while  appealing to his admirers to keep their hope in his governorship project alive.                            Asked if he would probe his predecessors in office, he said he hoped to concentrate on his government’s programmes but would react to developments as they come and guard against corruption (Signed by Hon. Bamitale Oguntoyinbo, Dg. SEFACO).