AYODELE Fayose, Ekiti State governor, on Friday in Benin called on Nigerian youths to brace up and take over the leadership mantle of the country, declaring that Nigerians are suffering today because of the grave mistake they made in 2015 of voting President Muhammadu Buhari into office knowing full well that he had reached a stage of diminishing return.

Governor Fayose also admitted that he is a controversial person because he does things other people dread to do “because they lack courage and are afraid.”

The Ekiti Governor who made the declaration in Benin while delivering the convocation lecture of the Benson Idahosa University (BIU), said the time for young Nigerians to pilot the affairs of the nation was now, adding that under his watch, nobody above the age of 50 will become a council chairman while the maximum age for a councillor will be 35.

According to the governor, “you can only give your best at your best. Our president is at diminishing return as at today. I should be quoted; we cannot all sleep and face one direction. Idahosa did not do these things when he was close to his grave; he did them at his prime when he had the energy to make a difference.

“How do you give laptop or ipad to a seventy-something years old man? How can we continue to struggle with our sons for positions meant for them?”

Governor Fayose who also called for the review of the revenue allocation formula pointing out that a situation whereby the federal government pockets 52 per cent of the allocation was awkward because the challenges facing the country reside in the states.

He said, “How will the federal government take 52 per cent when the problems are in the state? The federal government must shed its weight and allow states do the works for them.

“Federal government must take 22 per cent and states take 52 per cent. The federal government has taken more than he can do, more than they can deliver.”

The Governor praised the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, saying “he is our leader in Yorubaland, forget politics and it does not matter he is in the APC.”

‎He revealed that the late tele-evangelist, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, got his father converted to a born-again Christian at a crusade in Ibadan, Oyo State, in 1980 and that his father later sowed the family’s only car to propagate evangelism.

‎He charged the management of BIU to sustain the vision of the late Archbishop Idahosa, saying the man of God could see far beyond his peers when he was alive.

Fayose said handlers of the education sector must live their words and put those concerned on the driver seat, “I withdrew my sons from Olashore International School in Osun State and put them in SUBEB Schools in Ado-Ekiti.



” My sons attended institutions in Nigeria. Many people in the country say something and do other things.”

He also advised youths not to inherit the enemies of their political leaders they know nothing about.

On how he would actualise his dream of leading the country, Fayose said he would only align himself with God’s power, saying “with God nothing is impossible.”