Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said that the apology offered by President Mohammadu Buhari on his failure to conduct free, fair and credible elections since he assumed office and his abuse of rule of law and regulations, especially on his dissolution of Governing Councils of universities was not enough.
The governor also advised the president to respect rule of law and rights of Nigerians to hold opinions. While addressing his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari had apologised for dissolving governing councils of universities along with the boards of parastatal agencies and also declared that he did not succeed in the election in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers states.
Reacting through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said, “The best apology from President Buhari is to repent and purge himself of dictatorial tendencies and begin to see Nigeria as his Constituency, not the Hausa /Fulani and his APC members only.”
Fayose, who described the apology as admittance that the President was not governing the country right since he assumed office, added that the president must go a step further by holding his men, who caused the killings in Rivers State accountable for the crime they committed.”
The governor said that the President must also apologise to the Agatu people of Benue State for looking the other way when Fulani herdsmen were killing over 500 of their people, including pregnant women and children.
“Now that the President has eaten the humble pie by apologising for being wrong all this while, one wonders where those, who called us names for criticising the president and even plotted to destabilise our government will hide their sycophantic faces.
“While it is good to apologise when one is wrong, President Buhari should be told expressly that Nigerians are not interested in his apology. Rather, he should turn a new leave and do the right thing by governing Nigeria in accordance with the 1999 Constitution that he swore to uphold.
“The President should stop the blackmail, harassment, intimidation and oppression of perceived political opponents, obey court orders and stop convicting Nigerians in his own mind.
“He should ask questions as to why INEC produced results sheets for over 230 polling units in Rivers State with PDP omitted, hold those responsible for the fraud accountable and question why the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has not been able to conduct any conclusive election since he was appointed.
“Buhari’s men, who invaded Rivers State with soldiers and killed many people, including youth Corp member must be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“Most importantly, he should stop the Department of State Services (DSS) from acting as the security agent of the APC in Ekiti State by going about arresting and detaining without trial for unfounded allegations that are not within the mandate of the service.
“The President should be reminded that Nigerians are only interested in being able to feed and live their lives without any encumbrance, President Buhari should stop making live difficult for Nigerians with his obnoxious policy that has killed small-scale businesses and rendered millions of Nigerians jobless,” Fayose said.