Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has hailed governors of the
South-East states for their meeting with leader of the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, recently.
He said, “The meeting has provided a veritable platform, which Ndigbo must key into otherwise they will remain guinea pig as long as this country exists.”
The governor, who appealed to the federal government to allow political solutions to agitations by Nigerians as against the use of brute force, which, he said, had become the hallmark of the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government, said that he remained committed to
the call for full and total restructuring of Nigeria through dialogue and negotiation because it was too late for Nigeria to disintegrate.
The Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, stated that Governor Fayose said he was “particularly glad that South-East governors have come to the realisation that they cannot
ignore their own in times like these as agitations are normal and must
not be ignored, although the approach should be handled with caution.”
He blamed the actions and utterances of President Muhammadu Buhari for the agitations going on in the country, saying, “The father figure of
this country is President Buhari and if his language does not represent unity, there will be agitations like we are witnessing now.
A father figure rallies even the bad boys in his house. The utterances
and actions of Buhari when he became President were against the unity of this country. How can a president say that he will only attend to the
needs of those who gave him 97 per cent vote and neglect others who didn’t vote for him.
“For Nigeria to move forward and in unity; there must be no
sectionalism, there must be no oppression and there must be justice and equity.”
The governor, who commended the Northern leaders for standing up to
ensure that the Arewa Youths’ quit notice against the Igbo in the North was resolved and withdrawn without necessarily arresting and
detaining anyone, said; “I am sure that the same can be achieved by the Igbo leaders as arresting or re-arresting Kanu may be
counterproductive as it may be perceived as vilification of the entire
Southeast Region, not necessarily Kanu as a person.”
