Fayemi made the clarification on Friday, through a statement signed by Olayinka Oyebode, his spokesman.
The minister, who reportedly made the comment in an interview with WE FM 106.3, was quoted as saying: “Don’t mind Fayose, he is a noisemaker. I told the President yesterday that even if it means raising the pump price to N250 per litre, Nigerians will still buy, provided it is available.”
However, Fayemi said no interview was granted to WE FM 106.3 or any other media outlet on the fuel situation.
According to him, the comment was crafted and circulated by the media team of Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor.
“It has become necessary to debunk this wicked falsehood being spread by mischief makers via the social media, especially for the sake of well-meaning members of the public, who have expressed concern over the source of the falsehood,” the statement read.
“The minister of mines and steel development, Kayode Fayemi, never granted any interview with WE FM 106.3 and the management of the radio station can attest to this fact.
“Members of the public should note that the fabricated comment, emanated from no other source than the media unit of Ekiti state governor’s office, which is now a den for fraudsters and where falsehood and blackmail have been elevated to statecraft.
“Anyone who knows the pedigree of the minister would attest to the fact that he is not capable of making such a careless statement.
“Fayemi remains focused on his current assignment and no amount of manufactured lies can distract him.
“We implore members of the public to be wary of this dangerous trend of character assassination being masterminded by governor Fayose’s media aides, who in a similar style, had also credited another false statement on the fuel crisis to Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) through a fraudulent twitter handle.
“We only hope the perpetrators of this criminal act fully understand the nature of this crime that has become a past time for them and their paymaster.”
"Fayose collected bail-out funds, Paris Club refund, took loans and, yet, he refused to pay workers. Today, civil servants are owed salaries of between six and ten months; teachers, local government workers are owed at least six to ten months. Pensioners are being owed. You don’t pay their parents, and you still ask even primary school students to pay”, the minister said.
“All the employment and poverty alleviation programmes that we instituted, he cancelled. We had the Social Security Programme for the Elderly under which 25, 000 vulnerable people were paid N5, 000 per month; he cancelled. Our Peace Corps scheme under which 800 youths were employed was scrapped and those youths thrown out of jobs. The special allowances for teachers in rural areas, he stopped. The only thing he does is to abuse President Buhari everyday; yet, Buhari still gives him bailout funds to pay workers. But he doesn’t even pay the workers. The only thing he’s doing is to build a bridge to nowhere. It is only in Ekiti that I’ve seen a governor building a bridge to nowhere”.
He also spoke about the N25 billion bond taken by his administration. The funds, he said, were used to resuscitate the moribund Ire Bricks Industry, rebuild Ikogosi Warm Springs, build the 12, 000 capacity Ekiti State Pavillion, construct many verifiable roads across the state, and build a brand new Government House, among other projects. He said he had already repaid about N14 billion of the money before he left power. He regretted that Fayose had abandoned all the projects, noting that Ikogosi had become dilapidated.
“Today, besides all the money our friend has collected, he has also borrowed over N56 billion. Yet he doesn’t tell you that.”
Fayemi also informed that the present administration slashed the salaries of traditional rulers, and had not paid the new rates in ten months
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