Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State and Governor Ayodele Fayose are quarrelling again over whether government workers have been paid or not.

While the APC has accused the ‘deliberately insensitive’ Governor Fayose of not paying the workers their November and December salaries, Fayose’s spokesman has thundered back to debunk the allegation.

Governor Fayose’s spokesman said the workers had been paid for December. The APC disputed this and said Fayose released half of December salaries, Christmas eve, after deducting N2,000 from each worker for Christmas gifts.

Governor Fayose: another controversy with APC over civil servant salaries

The APC said it was ungodly for a leader to enjoy all the bliss that goes with Christmas while denying the people he leads their entitlements at the time members of their families look up to them for the yearly pleasure of the season.

The party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in contrast all workers had received their salaries and Christmas bonus in addition to ‎their leave bonus while pensioners were also paid by December 18, when Fayose’s predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi was in office.

“It is evil for a leader to deduct N2,000 from the salary of each worker for the purpose of buying them Christmas gifts only to give not up to half of the workers ‎a chicken smaller than a pigeon worth less than N800.

“It is callous to take convention funds for the delegates of your party members on the guise that you are spending it for Christmas gift only for you to keep more than half of that money in your private pocket while your party members go hungry during this festive period,” Olatubosun said.

Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, said the workers had been paid and urged the APC to do proper fact-checking before making accusations against the Fayose administration.

“The APC shouldn’t be a fool in reacting to issues. They should not be lazy in getting to the roots of any matter because everybody is aware that salaries of workers had been paid.

“Ayo Fayose is a sensitive and responsive Governor , who has started distributing Christmas gifts to all categories of people since Monday. So it sounds so unfathomable that a Governor that could do that would now abandon the workers, who are critical to this government.”

But TheNEWS learnt that the salary payment situation in the state is worse than the picture both parties were trying to project.

Many workers are still being owed August and September salaries and they are furious about this.

Only local government employees have been paid up to date, with a promise by Governor Ayodele Fayose that he would pay their December salary next week.

Teachers have been paid their October and November salaries with a promise that they would be paid that of December on Monday or Tuesday.

However, the August and September salaries, for teachers have not been paid. TheNEWS learnt that Fayose does not want to pay, claiming it was his predecessor who ought to have paid.

Teachers are, for this reason, angry, asking whether government is no longer a continuum.

The civil servants too have not been paid the September salaries, though they have been paid October and November. Governor Fayose has promised to pay the December salaries next week.