Nigeria appears to be the only country in the world where their President is openly insulted and disparaged by uncouth citizens with brazen impudence. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose has become notorious of this lately. Apart from insulting the person of President Muhammadu Buhari almost on a daily basis, he has degenerated into even raising spurious allegations against our beloved President, this in my view is totally unacceptable.
Just as the country’s grand norm enshrined the freedom of speech and expression, Mr. Fayose should also take note that there are provisions in our statutes that provides for punishment for citizens who slander others. Politics cannot the plied on the altar of such bitterness as Fayose exhibits towards Mr. President as though President Buhari took his wife or killed his child. His actions are far from the ritual opposition criticism.
Ayodele Fayose recently said that Nigeria was gradually returning to the dictatorial days of 1984, where human rights were not valued and respected. Obviously referring to the military era when Buhari served as Head of State. The governor was making such comments in reaction to the detention of Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu, two persons who all Nigerians know why they are being held by law enforcement agents. Sambo Dasuki had planned to escape from Nigeria hiding under dubious health claims. Imagine that he was allowed to escape he would not have returned to Nigeria except when extradited. Where are Sambo Dasuki co travellers in the hemorrhaging of the nation’s finances today? Where are the following persns: Dr. Nngozi Okonjo Iweala, Musliu Obanikoro, Diezani Alison Madueke, Chief Tony Anenih and several others? They fled the country to escape the prying eyes of the EFCC and not Muhammadu Buhari. A clear conscience fears no accusation.
Since the detention of Sambo Dasuki, he has been confessing of how Ayo Fayose’s colleagues and friends bled this country and brought the nation’s economy to its knees. $2.1billion is plenty of money for a few Nigerians working with the approval of former President Goodluck Jonathan to steal under any guise. Of all who collected money from Dasuki, none has denied collecting the amount stated by Dasuki and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Dasuki is still confessing those who collected and he needs to be with the security agents. Today, Nigerians know better what the PDP was doing with their lives. The genocide in the North East perpetrated by Boko Haram which was freely given free hand to perpetrate such heinous crime against humanity in the North East of Nigeria is to the credit of Sambo Dasuki and all those who collected the security monies from him and backers such as Fayose!
Instead of complaining that he is being detained for too long, Fayose being an ally of Dasuki should help him to confess all those who looted this nation’s common wealth so that he could be released on bail to face his charges.
Loquaciously, Fayose further labeled President Buhari’s administration as a misadventure for Nigerians and called on international human right organisation to investigate the abuses of rights and contempt for court orders in the country. How can looters of $2.1billion that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of citizens of this country be talking of human rights?
Nnamdi Kanu on his part, is being held for leading a secessionist group within our country and he is mindful of the enormity of his offence. It is a treasonable offence and such a suspect like the terrorists needs to be kept in the gulag while they face prosecution. All those threatening to dismember this country violently should be seen from the prism of terrorism. Asking that such persons be let loose is akin to asking for the release of Boko Haram suspects so that they would be coming from their homes to answer their charges. But beyond all of these, the actions of the federal government is guided by the laws of the land. There is no pronouncement by any court of law in Nigeria that President Muhammadu Buhari has breached the law. So, where is Fayose getting his wild accusations from?
As if that was not enough, Governor Fayose also said that he was highly disappointment in the president’s responses during the recent media chat. He said the president still talked and acted like a military dictator and urged Nigerians to pray so that the country will to fall into darker days. He also said that he’s not afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari despite what he described as his ‘dictatorial tendencies.’ Fayose even had the temerity to warn President Buhari not to “toy with him” as toying with him would lead to the collapse of his administration. Who the hell does Fayose think he is and what powers does he think he possesses to warrant his unguarded tirade on Mr. President?
A few days ago, the same Ayo Fayose woke up from a terrible night mare and said that President Muhammadu Buhari collects $1million for any trip he makes. Where is Fayose’s source of information? And where is his evidence? If docked can he produce the evidence to back his bogus allegation?
But it does seem as if Fayose’s attacks lately are not unconnected with the grand expose of how he allegedly got a whopping $37m from ex-president Goodluck Jonathan to rig the election that brought him into power following the probe of military officers involved in the shameful act.
The allegation became rife after the secretary of the Ekiti state chapter of his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Temitope Aluko revealed before the military panel that as the Chief Returning Officer for the election, ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, gave Fayose $37 million cash to prosecute the governorship election. All the military officers involved in this sham have been confessing their various dubious roles in rigging the election for Fayose.
By the time the panel finishes its assignment and submits its report, the anus of Ayo Fayose would have been properly opened for the public to see and it will be glaring to all Nigerians why Fayose has continued to haul diatribe at a sitting President with reckless abandon.
But Fayose must realise that Nigeria state is bigger than a motor park tout. When he finishes enjoying his immunity, it will be clearer to him that when a man sheepishly dips his fingers into a hole in search of rodent, he could be bitten by a deadly python right inside the hole. Fayose must not cry wolf then, he must not say the ruling party wants to annihilate an opposition party. He must not be talking of human rights because a man who sows the wind must reap the whirl wind.
Within the ambits of the laws of Nigeria, the wings of Ayodele Fayose must be clipped. He must be made to know that a sitting President anywhere in the world must be respected, and our own President Muhammadu Buhari cannot be an exception.
· Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
