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Tag: Fayose

  • Visit: Residents of Taraba, Benue, others won’t be hoodwinked by your ‘cosmetic sympathy’, Fayose tells Buhari

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said residents of troubled Taraba, Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers states won’t be hoodwinked by President Muhammadu Buhari’s belated visit.

    The governor emphasized that the president never deemed it fit to visit the states when it matters most.

    Fayose, in a statement issued on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said it was the height of cruelty that the same President, who promised to lead from the front in the fight against Boko Haram, could not visit Dapchi, Yobe State where 110 school girls were abducted by the insurgents but went on merrymaking in Kano.

    “On January 9 and 12, this year, 88 victims of herdsmen attacks were given mass burial in Taraba State. Also on January 11, 2018, another 73 persons killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue State were buried in a mass grave in Makurdi, the state capital.

    “Meaning that in Taraba and Benue States alone, 161 Nigerians were given mass burial within three days! This never caught the attention of our President. Rather, it was a visit to Nasarawa, a neighboring State to Benue that was important to him.

    “To further demonstrate his lack of compassion for Nigerians, while the entire nation, especially parents of the 110 abducted school girls in Dapchi, Yobe State are still in anguish, President Buhari went to Kano last Saturday to attend a social function, thus sparking negative reactions from Nigerians.

    “Apparently, it was the negative reactions of Nigerians, especially on Social Media and the effects on the President’s reelection bid that necessitated his hurried visit to Taraba State today, and planned visits to Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers States.

    “I am sure the people of Taraba State won’t be hoodwinked by the President’s cosmetic sympathy, show of concern and crocodile tears, which he never bordered to shed when hundreds of indigenes of the State were being killed by suspected herdsmen,” the governor said.”

  • 2019: Fayose denies regretting earlier vindictive statements, insists ‘Buhari is incompetent’

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has denied authorizing statements making the rounds, especially on social media that he regretted all he had earlier said about President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Recall that Fayose for the first time meet face-to-face with Buhari on Thursday at the presidential villa where he had gone to attend Council of State meeting.

    A picture of him (Fayose) in a warm handshake with the president soon went viral after the meeting.

    The statement purportedly released by Fayose on Friday blamed all he (Fayose) earlier said about Buhari since 2015 on politics.

    “I regret everything I said about President Buhari. I regret saying our President died when he was still alive.

    It was politics but I have come to realize that it was politics taken too far. Upon meeting President Buhari, I was fascinated by his calm nature.

    I had feared that he would be vindictive, especially, considering the kind of things I have said against him. The man don’t seem to care about what has been said about him.

    For me, Nigeria is work in progress and we must join hands with Mr. President to deliver the Nigeria of our dream.

    Mr. President is a good man and he has a big dream for the nation, which is okay, if you ask me. We have to start pushing forward.

    The idea of pulling him down should stop forthwith,” the statement said.

    However, in a swift counterstatement, Fayose’s Special Adviser on Public Communication and New Media urged Nigerians to disregard the statement while insisting that operatives of the Buhari Media Centre (BMC) were behind the malicious release.

    He insisted that Fayose stands with all his has earlier said about the president.

    His statement reads in full:

    Statement saying Governor Fayose said “he regretted everything he said about President Buhari” is false

    Kindly disregard statement being circulated obviously by men of the Buhari Media Centre (BMC) that Governor Fayose said he “regretted everything he said about President Buhari.”

    Governor Fayose did not and will never make such statement.

    The statement was part of futile efforts by Buhari’s media men to cover up the glaring failure of the President Buhari led federal government, most especially the government’s inability to secure Nigeria and its people and the latest damning report by the Transparency International on rising corruption in the country.

    Governor Fayose stands with everything that he has said about President Buhari as he has remained consistent with his position that lacked the required capacity to govern a diverse nation like Nigeria.

    The President’s lack of capacity has been shown in the high level of insecurity and the economic crisis facing the country.

    Members of the public are therefore urged to disregard any statement not attributed to me or the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Idowu Adelusi.

    Also, Governor Fayose’s comments on national issues are always on his Twitter Handle @GovAyoFayose.

    Any statement credited to Governor Fayose and cannot be found either on his Twitter Handle or my Facebook Timeline and Page should be DISREGARDED.

     

    LERE OLAYINKA

    SA (Public Communications and New Media)

    23/02/18

  • Just in: Fayose finally handshakes Buhari [Photos]

    Governor, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state, who is renowned as one of the foremost critic of President Muhammadu Buhari-led government, met exchanged a warm handshake with the president at the villa on Thursday.

    Fayose was at the Villa to attend the Council of State meeting. Others in attendance are former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who recently criticised Buhari’s administration and advised the President against seeking a second term.

    Foremer military leader Yakubu Gowon was also at the villa for the meeting along with retired General Abdusalam Abubakar, another military head of state. President Buhari summoned a meeting of the Council of State to deliberate on key national issues.

    The meeting, which started at 11 a.m, is being attended by three former presidents, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, four former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Senate President Bukola Saraki and state governors.

    The four former Chief Justices of Nigeria attending the meeting are Justice Muhammad Uwais, Idris Kutigi, Mariam Alooma and Justice Alfa Belgore.

    The meeting would consider the appointment of National Commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), among other issues. The meeting observed a minute silence in memory of late former Chief Justice Dahiru Mustapher, who died recently.

  • Fayose to FG: ‘Publish all properties recovered by EFCC, owners before selling them’

    Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has told the federal government to publish all the property it claimed to have recovered and their owners as well as buyers when they are eventually sold.

    The governor, who said Nigerians were no longer interested in being governed with propaganda, said “Nigerians want to know how many properties were recovered and who bought the properties. Who authorized the sale? Nigerians want details, not propaganda because most of these properties have been sold and resold.”

    According to a statement on Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said, “The federal government should create a website where all the properties recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and to whom they were sold will be listed so that by one click, Nigerians will have information.”

    The governor said it will be difficult to trust the EFCC reports on recovered loots, asking; “How can Nigerians continue to trust the position of the same EFCC that said in April 2016 that the allegation of corruption against Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Chairman, Danladi Umar was mere suspicion and would be
    difficult to proof in court, but now charged the same CCT chairman to court on the allegation it described as mere suspicion?”

    He said; “On November 23, 2017, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, the Chairman of the Senate committee investigating the botched reinstatement and promotion of the former Chairman the Presidential Task Force on Pensions, under the leadership of Ibrahim Maina told Nigerians on the floor of the Senate that almost all the exotic properties recovered from alleged looters of Pension Funds had already been re-looted by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    “Last year November also, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), while testifying before the National Assembly alleged that one of the properties recovered from alleged looters of Pension Funds was already sold to a Lagos lawyer.

    “How are we now sure that the same people who re-looted the recovered pension loots have not also looted the recovered properties the President said will be sold?’

    Speaking further, Governor Fayose said; “The federal government cannot continue to tell Nigerians stories without background. The era of Baba
    has said is gone in Nigeria. The era of the president acting like a lord of manor is gone, we are in a democracy.

    “Many people were blackmailed and coerced to surrender their properties. A typical case is the one on Malabu Oil where people have been scandalized, harassed and their names destroyed via media trial and the Attorney General of the Federation now come out to say that there is no enough evidence to try them. What will now happen to the lies told against those people?

    “The federal government should therefore publish and state clearly what has happened in the EFCC between 2006 and now. Nigerians need to know the recovered properties sold by Ibrahim Magu’s predecessor, Ibrahim Lamorde and other previous EFCC chairmen. Those who bought them should be made public too.”

  • Fayose supports Soyinka’s call for organized resistance against killer herdsmen

    The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has declared support for the call by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, for an organized resistance, through formation of informal organisations, against the incursion of herdsmen.

    Fayose, therefore, called on governors in all States affected by the herdsmen menace to adopt such measure to protect their citizens.
    While saying Nigeria and its people must be protected at all cost, Fayose noted: “The comfort our leaders enjoy from their office is momentary. But the suffering of the people may be permanent if the leaders continue to look away as if nothing is happening just because they are enjoying the comfort of their office.”

    According to a statement on Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said he was particularly happy that notable leaders in the country, especially Prof. Soyinka, heeded his call for all men of good conscience to speak up against the wanton killing of Nigerians by herdsmen, who are acting more like terrorists.

    He said Ekiti State will further strengthen local hunters in the States by formally bringing them together under Ekiti State Hunters Association and equipping them to protect the people and their sources of livelihood.

    Fayose, who said that the herdsmen menace has become a major security and economic threat in the country, added that it was clear the Federal Government was not ready to do anything to stop killings of Nigerians and invasion of people’s farms by herdsmen.

    The governor maintained that those approaching the herdsmen’s menace with ethnic and religious sentiments were not helping the country, saying: “What Nigeria is witnessing now is pure criminality. It is terrorism in the name of cattle rearing and anyone defending the killing of fellow Nigerians and destruction of farmlands is an enemy of this country.

    “If our people have decided to embrace farming, how do we reconcile a situation where their farms are either being destroyed by cows or cruelly set ablaze by supposed herdsmen?

    “Today, in many parts of the country, people are even afraid to go to the farm for fear of being killed by supposed herdsmen. How do we promote agriculture under this kind of situation?

    “Therefore, I salute the courage of Prof Soyinka for speaking out, though late, but it is better late than never.

    “Those armed herdsmen are nothing but another form of Boko Haram insurgents and they must be treated as such.”

  • 2019: Fayose warns Nigerians on dangers of re-electing Buhari

    The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has said Nigeria will experience a doomed situation if President Muhammadu Buhari gets a second term in office.

    Fayose, who stated this when he appeared on a national television broadcast on Saturday, alleged that the President was being led by a cabal in power.

    The governor, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, also said he organised hunters to tackle the herdsmen menace because the federal security agencies appeared helpless over the issue.

    He said, “The constitution of Nigeria is no longer working. The constitution was not even drafted to make the governor have control over the security apparatus that could be used to help his people.

    “To worsen the situation, people who are supposed to protect this constitution are now collaborators. They are the ones trampling upon the laws of the land.

    “The Federal Government under Buhari lacks the political will to tackle the (insecurity) challenge. The herdsmen are killing people every day and there is no security for anybody.

    “It is now a common occurrence these days to see a herder threatening to command his cow to attack farmers. Anybody can see you on the way and attack you. They even slaughter their victims after attacks.

    “You can’t even demean an animal like that. They would even threaten farmers that ‘if I see you in your farm, I will kill you; We have lost it.

    “This administration rode to power with a threefold promise. To fix the economy, ensure security and fight corruption. They have failed in all aspects.”

    He explained that Ghana dealt with the issue of herdsmen attacks and got rid of the gun-wielding criminals when they became a nuisance to the citizenry.

    He said, “We are now at the mercy of the current administration headed by someone who does not see any other tribe as important. The people killed by Fulani herdsmen since Buhari came into power are more than those killed by the criminals from independence till 2015.”

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari is not in charge of Nigeria and that the country is being governed by a cabal in the Presidential Villa.

    The governor, who said he does not have any against the President, insisted that Buhari does not have the political will to tackle security challenges facing the country such as the incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen.

    In a press statement by his Chief Press Secretary, idowu Adelusi, Fayose said, ”The constitution of Nigeria is no longer working. Let me come to the level of incidents happening around.

    “In the conception of that constitution, it does not really want the governor of Ekiti to have control over security apparatus to help his people.

    “And to worsen matters, people who are supposed to protect this constitution are now collaborators, they are the ones trampling on the constitution and that is the Federal Government.

    “Everyday now, there is an occurrence of killing people. There is no security for anybody. A herder would threaten to command his cow to attack farmers.

    “Anybody can see you on the way and attack you. They even slaughter their victims from the back. You can’t even demean an animal like that. They would even threaten farmers that if I see you in your farm, I will kill you. We have lost it.

    “This administration rode to power with threefold promises, to fix economy and power and fight corruption, everything has failed in all aspect.

    “Let us look at Ghana on the issue of herdsmen attacks, that country dealt with their herdsmen and got rid of them and they have peace of mind afterwards.

    ”But look at Nigeria, a minister would say that a governor is blocking the road. How important is a cow to human beings. I don’t know we got into this mess as a nation, we are at the mercy of cattle rearers.

    “We are now at the mercy of the current administration headed by someone who does not see any other tribe as important.

    “Let us ask ourselves, the number of people that have been killed by Fulani herdsmen since Buhari came into power is more than the ones killed right independence till 2015.”

    Fayose further urged Nigerians to vote out Buhari in 2019, saying, “Before this administration came to power, I warned Nigerians, and I am warning again, if by any chance Buhari comes back to power, the would doomed.

    ”I have nothing against Buhari, he is our leader and remains so. All that I have spoken about presidency has come to pass. I was a 24 years old man when President Buhari was military Head of State at that time, the same way ruled then is that same way it is happening now.

    “Majority of the people that voted for Buhari are in the age bracket of 18 to 40. They didn’t know who he was. I am telling you expressly that this country is not well governed.

    “The principal thing the people look for before you can talk of food is security, Nigeria is not secured. I said that the President wasn’t fit health wise to govern and he was away from office for more than half a year.

    “That explains what I have been saying, ‘Nigerian does need a man of over 70 years of age. It is not personal and I respect President Buhari but the fact is that my mother cannot say she wanted to be governor of Ekiti. Nigeria needs a hands on presidency.

    ”You talk about Buhari’s experience but your experience is okay only if the body is okay and vice versa. Let us be realistic, Nigeria is of 180 million people, can’t we find one young, vibrant person who can lead us?

    ”We are more militarised than ever before. I would support people who would have imbibed democratic principles to be our President. I am going to be President of this country, write it down.

    “I know many would not believe me because the carnal things are what men believe. I told them I will be governor again they didn’t believe me now I am here as governor.

    “I have told camera men, take my picture because I may be a bit older then. As long as the lord liveth I will rule this country.”

    Alleging that Buhari is not fully in charge but overwhelmed by a cabal, he said, “The President is not in charge he is being governed himself, by a cabal, just like it happened under late Yar’Adua. As time goes on, these cabals will be exposed.”

  • Benue killings: Fayose visits graveyard of 73 victims, says Buhari ruling with double standard

    The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Thursday called on the Federal Government to stop ruling the country with double standard.

    Fayose made the call during his visit to Benue State to commiserate with the people of the state over the loss of 73 people to herdsmen attacks.

    He said, “Those who committed less offence like hate speech are made to face the wrath of the law while those unleashing mayhem on others are treated as sacred cows.”

    He described the crisis in Benue State as ethnic cleansing and urged the people not to allow others to cow them, saying, “This nation belongs to our forefathers and they bequeathed it to us and we should not allow anyone to chase others away, this country belongs to all of us.

    “I went to the graveside today and I was moved to tears. How can people be slaughtered like cows? There is no terrorism more than what has happened in Benue.

    “I charge the Federal Government to stop ruling Nigeria with double standard. Killing innocent souls, sacking their communities is nothing but terrorism.”

    He urged Ortom not to be weary but to ensure that the anti-grazing law succeeds in the state.

    In his response, Ortom regretted that the authorities did not heed the warning from Benue, saying if they did, the 73 souls and others would not have died.

    While reiterating the call for the resignation of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Ortom described him and the defence minister as bare-footed people who were not capable of carrying out their responsibilities.

  • Photos: Fayose visits Ortom over Benue killings

    Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose is currently in Benue state to commiserate with the people over the clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

    Fayose’s visit comes 24 hours after that of Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state who offered prayers at the gravesite of the 73 persons killed in January.

    He also donated N200 million to persons affected by the crisis. Over 80 persons have been killed in the state this year alone.

    Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, was on ground to receive Fayose, who is chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum.

  • Fayose’s Chief of Staff resigns, accuses governor of dividing PDP

    Fayose’s Chief of Staff resigns, accuses governor of dividing PDP

    The Chief of Staff to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, has tendered his resignation letter.

    Dipo Anisulowo disclosed his resignation in a letter released to newsmen.

    He blamed Governor Fayose’s mission to destroy the PDP as reason for resigning.

    Anisulowo, in a letter made available to the press, said a copy of the letter had been sent to the governor and his resignation takes immediate effect.

    ” I am at dismay on the political arrangement by Mr governor aiming to divide Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in Ekiti state.

    “Same Fayose told all stakeholders in Abuja just before the 2014 elections that he will leave with his deputy 2018.

    “This sudden change of goal post in the middle of the game is not Integrity,” Anisulowo said.

  • Ekiti 2018: Olusola did not indicate interest; God directed me to pick him – Fayose

    Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose, at a PDP rally on Monday in Ado Ekiti, declared that God directed him to support his Deputy, Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, to succeed him.

    “Olusola never said he wanted to be deputy governor, but God instructed me to pick him. I said we will go together after our tenure, but God said I should allow him to stay; that what I said was my own opinion,” Fayoe told the huge crowd.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that former minister of state for works, Dayo Adeyeye, a serving senator, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, and Nigeria’s former envoy in Canada, Dare Bejide, had indicated interest in the PDP’s ticket for the July 14 governorship poll.

    The trio, along with a former Fayose aide and justice commissioner, Owoseeni Ajayi, had jointly rejected the adoption of Olusola as the PDP’s sole candidate and described the step as “pedestrian and undemocratic”.

    But Fayose, who spoke at the rally held at Okesa area, said that he was not rattled by the negative utterances hurled at him by the anti-Olusola aspirants.

    “The PDP has taken a position which we think is in the best interest of the state; we shall not be distracted by those opposed to this step,” he said.

    He expressed confidence that the PDP would win the July 14 election “by God’s grace”.

    Fayose said that the large turn out of people for the rally was a testimony of PDP’s popularity in Ekiti, and warned those thinking of rigging the election to perish that thought as the people would resist that.

    He said that his administration had achieved a lot in the areas of infrastructure.

    “We have improved on infrastructural development. We built a flyover at Oja Oba market and also built a new governor’s office. We have executed many projects,” he said.

    He dismissed allegations that his government had borrowed N56 billion, and declared that he had not borrowed “even a dime” since he came into office.

    “Let my opponents know that the elections are not won by propaganda. If they are sure of what they are saying, let them tell us the bank that gave the loan and also produce the papers leading to the transactions,” he said.

     

    NAN