Former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Bamidele Faparusi, has told Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop his attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari and face the business of governance.
Faparusi, in a statement yesterday in Ado Ekiti, said the governor is dragging the name of Ekiti State in the mud through his consistent attacks on President Buhari while governance under him had suffered colossal damage and entrenched beggary in the state.
The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said this in reaction to Fayose’s vituperation against Buhari, in which he said he cannot be intimidated by anyone in view of his consistent criticism of the federal government.
The ex-federal lawmaker said he was surprised that Fayose, who had allegedly employed intimidation, coercion and harassment of the opposition APC as a strategy to win elections could turn around and accuse the president of planning to destabilise his government.
“In the build-up to the 2015 general elections, Fayose chased all the 26 House of Assembly members away while also running after the state chairman, Chief Jide Awe and over 300 influential members of our party over trumped-up charges using the police.
“Even in his own party, those seen not loyal to him were being intimidated or expelled from the party. Does Fayose’s allegation have any strand of believability?” Faparusi asked.
He said the governor, whom he alleged believed in political thuggery and brigandage, lacks the moral right to accuse anyone of intimidation or having sinister plan against his government that has inflicted untold hardship and fostered disunity among Ekiti indigenes.
Faparusi, who stated that every discerning Nigerian knows that Buhari had exhibited unwavering commitment to good governance and rapid change in the political system of the country, said: “It is ironical that Fayose is talking about intimidation, while in the contrary, had dedicated 80% of his time to intimidate opposition in Ekiti. The governor should know that he remains the least of Buhari’s problems. Sinners, they say, run when no one pursues.
“Nigerians should know by now that Fayose’s barbaric nature does not represent the values Ekiti people stand for and, therefore, should not take any of his utterances serious as his illogical and vague criticism of Mr President is just aimed at wanting to be in the news all the time and unfortunately, for the wrong reasons.
“APC cannot on its own effect the desired change in Nigeria without the contributions of all Nigerians, home and abroad, hence the willingness of the party to embrace genuine and responsible criticisms from sincere Nigerians and not from infantile individuals like Fayose.
“I am not surprised that Fayose has not achieved anything for almost one year at the helm of affairs in Ekiti, because he did not promise Ekiti people anything in the first place while campaigning.
“We will no longer tolerate his continued dragging of Ekiti’s towering image in the mud.
We owe it a collective struggle to ensure that Ekiti keeps its record as the most educated and sophisticated state in Nigeria and we won’t fold our arms and allow an opportunist to derogate the image that had taken years to build”.
He however, maintained that the Federal Government won’t hesitate to deploy every constitutional means in dealing with him(Fayose) if he abuses the oath of office he promised to uphold.
“Therefore, we want to assure that no one will chase Fayose out of office, except himself. His case has always been that of a sinner runneth when no one pursueth. He should face governance and stop the
looting of our commonwealth to Dubai, with these, he won’t have any reason to fear”, Faparusi said.