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Tag: Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose

  • Corrupt collaboration

    Former Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro is understandably a reluctant prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose for money laundering.  But his reluctance is irrelevant.

    Fayose is on trial for allegedly receiving and keeping N1.2 billion and $5 million allegedly stolen from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), contrary to the Money Laundering Act.  Obanikoro had allegedly delivered the money to Fayose to fund the former governor’s 2014 governorship campaign.  The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) listed Obanikoro as one of 22 witnesses to testify in the trial.

    Testifying against Fayose wasn’t going to be enjoyable for Obanikoro, considering their connection when they were both in the same political party. But things are different now. Fayose is no longer governor and Obanikoro is no longer in the same party with him. But what they shared in the past is not easily forgotten.

    Obanikoro must have remembered things they did together before things changed. As a witness, he was quoted as saying at the Federal High Court in Lagos on February 4: “I’m trying to restrain myself from saying things that will further damage my relationship with him (Fayose). I was in Ado-Ekiti (the state capital) in furtherance of his governorship bid. It’s very painful for me to give evidence against him, no doubt about that.”

    In the beginning, in 2016 while Obanikoro was being questioned by the EFCC in connection with the distribution of over N4billion taken from the ONSA, he was quoted as saying: “Out of N4.685billon transferred to Sylva McNamara Limited, N3.880billion was transferred to both Ayodele Fayose and Senator Omisore through cash and bank transfers. The dollars contents were handed over to Fayose personally by me in the presence of some party leaders and he collected it and took it to the room next to where we were all seated.”

    Fayose was still governor at the time. His reported reaction: “Let me believe that Obanikoro did not say all these because whatever you say, you would have to prove it in court. It is not enough to just say it. If he’s saying all these to get out of trouble, it is just a drama of the moment. I know he is looking for ways out of the quagmire as his house was seized, his bank accounts were frozen and all that.”

    Now that the matter is in court and Obanikoro is testifying against Fayose, the drama is beyond the moment.  Both men will relive that dramatic moment of corrupt collaboration.

  • Fayose: Osun election was a ‘show of shame’

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has described the governorship election conducted in neighbouring Osun State as a “show of shame.”

    He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of allegedly perfecting rigging plans with “compromised elections” in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and now Osun.

    Fayose in a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said “democracy is dead in Nigeria” with the outcome of the supplementary governorship poll held in Osun on Thursday.

    Read Also:Ekiti PDP aspirants vandalize secretariat, reject alleged imposition by Fayose

    He accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of compromising with the APC and security forced to pervert the will of the Nigerian electorate.

    The Ekiti governor commended the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in Osun governorship poll, Senator Ademola Adeleke for “having fought a good fight.”

    Hailing Adeleke, Fayose said: “You did not lose but your mandate has only been stolen”

    Fayose said: “With the show of shame that happened in last Saturday’s Osun state governorship election in general and the Thursday rerun in particular, there is no other conclusion to draw than that democracy is now dead in our beloved country.

    “With what happened in Osun state, democracy is actually dead in Nigeria and we are in critical times.

    “The Osun supplementary elections was just a repeat of what happened in Ekiti state on July 14th. And it is unfortunate that, again, the will of the people has been perverted.

    “It was obvious even to the blind that the Osun election, as was the case with Ekiti, was a contest between the PDP and the security agencies supervised by a compromised INEC.”

    Fayose added that the University professors also used as returning officers by INEC have, ab initio, been compromised and only serve the interest of those he described as their pay masters.

    He added: “Therefore, we want to believe that conscionable Nigerians and the survival of this country as a whole are at the mercy of God and of the judiciary. And if the judiciary fails to rise up to the occasion, Nigerians will be among men the most miserable”

    He condemned the violence that attended the election, sympathized with the families of those killed and enjoined PDP members to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.

  • Fayose to EFCC: Meet me in my office on September 20

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has fired another letter to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) suggesting a September 20 date for the agency to interrogate him in his office in Ado-Ekiti.

    Fayose said the Commission should wait till October 16 at the expiration of his immunity if it cannot deploy its interrogators to Ado-Ekiti on the suggested date.

    He criticized the EFCC for writing Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies demanding that he be placed on a watch list to prevent him from escaping from the country to evade justice.

    These were contained in another letter Fayose forwarded to the EFCC in which he restated his readiness to make himself available for investigation and interrogation.

    He contended that the action of the EFCC raised a serious question about its impartiality, neutrality and independence.

    The latest letter from Fayose’s table dated September 14 was made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Tuesday.

    The governor however said should the EFCC be so much in a hurry that its investigation cannot await October 16, 2018, which the first day after the expiration of his tenure, “without prejudice to Section 308 of the Constitution, I will be willing to answer questions from your team of investigators should they be willing to meet me in my office in Ado Ekiti on the 20th September 2018” indicated in the EFCC’s letter dated September 13, 2018.

    He reminded the EFCC that “in 2007, precisely on the 19th day of December, I willingly presented myself for EFCC investigation at your Lagos office.”

    Fayose said: “There is therefore nothing new or strange in my letter of 10th September 2018 which has been received and treated in bad faith and taste. I thought I was assisting due and fair process of law.”

    “As a responsible citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who currently enjoys immunity under Section 308 of the Constitution, it would amount to a breach of the Constitution which I swore to uphold if I appear in your office on any date earlier than 16th October 2018.
    If done otherwise, it will set a wrong precedent for the Constitutional Institution that I represent.

    “I carefully chose that date (October 16, 2018) being the next day after the expiration of my tenure upon which the immunity I enjoy will lapse to avoid any form of insinuation and was in good faith.

    “While drafting my response to yours of 14th September 2018, my attention was drawn to your widely publicized letter of 12th September 2018 to the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service and similar agencies, directing them to watch-list and arrest me on an imagination that I might leave Nigeria to escape investigation. It has finally put in context, your Commission’s hurriedly deleted online statement vide EFCC Nigeria @OfficialEFCC a day after the Ekiti governorship election that: “The parri is over; the clock of immunity turn apart, and the
    staff broken. Ekiti Integrated Poultry Project/Biological Concepts Limited N1.3bn fraud case file dusted off the shelves. See you soon.”

    “Your Commission by its actions, no doubt has presumed my ‘quilt’ even prior to the commencement of “investigation”. This raises serious question about the impartiality, independence or neutrality of the Commission in the matter. I feel harassed, intimidated and embarrassed by the imputation of crime and the innuendos of criminality underlining your correspondence which has been maliciously circulated widely. This in all implies a case of persecution rather than prosecution.

    “While I have handed a copy of your letter to my Solicitors for a careful study and advice, let me state here for the records, that there is nothing about me or my antecedents, as a long standing public figure to justify the Commission’s action. I have never been a coward or criminal.

    “You may wish to recall that in 2007, precisely on the 19th day of December, I willingly presented myself for EFCC investigation at your Lagos office. There is therefore nothing new or strange in my letter of 10th September 2018 which has been received and treated in bad
    faith and taste. I thought I was assisting due and fair process of law.

    “Notwithstanding the demonstrated hate and prejudice, I reaffirm my willingness to make myself available to answer questions within my knowledge on the day you may indicate after expiration of my term of office on the 15th October 2018.

    “If for any good reasons, your investigation cannot await the date suggested in my earlier letter, without prejudice to Section 308 of the Constitution, I will be willing to answer questions from your team of investigators should they be willing to meet me in my office in Ado
    Ekiti on the 20th September 2018 indicated in yours.

    “Save as above, I will appreciate any date convenient to you after 15th October 2018, otherwise, expect me on the 16th October 2018 at 1pm as earlier stated.”

  • EKITI 2018 : Fayose  accuses APC, INEC of  plotting to rig poll

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of perfecting an alleged plot to rig the July 14 governorship election in cahoots with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Addressing reporters in his office late Tuesday night, Fayose alleged that APC and INEC had struck a deal to disenfranchise 50 per cent of the Ekiti electorate by “heavily preloading the smart card readers.

    He alleged that thousands of voters would be disenfranchised in Ikere-Ekiti, the hometown of the People’s Demoratic Party (PDP), Prof. Kolapo Olusola and Ado-Ekiti, the hometown of his running mate, Mr. Ayodeji Ogunsakin.

    Fayose claimed that the APC has been distributing what he called fake empowerment forms to lure voters.

    He said: “It has come to our attention that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has devised another sinister plot to disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters in areas considered as strongholds of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), particular my where the PDP standard bearer comes from , which is Ikere-Ekiti.

    “The APC is working in collaboration with some unscrupulous elements in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete not less than 40 percent names from the Voter Register, using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) as a decoy and targeting Ado Ekiti, the State capital and Ikere Ekiti where the PDP candidate comes from.

    “The APC did not stop at this; they are currently distributing fake Empowerment Forms and cash to unsuspecting electorate, using a phony organisation, with the aim of deactivating Voters Cards, thereby disenfranchising thousands of voters.

    “They are also putting pressure on INEC to use Incident Forms as alternative to the Smart Card Readers, so as to be able rig the July 14 election.

    “It should be noted that the Incident Forms, being contemplated for Ekiti were  not used during the Anambra election.  The question is; what why the plan to use it in Ekiti?, ” he said.

    “To heighten their game, the APC in collaboration with INEC are planning to heavily preload the Smart Card Readers and also release ballot papers to their members for ballot stuffing to justify the preload.

    “We are concerned again by APC  plan to cause violence again the state, ahead of the election. “The whole world is therefore placed on alert on the desperate bid of the APC to circumvent the will of Ekiti people at all cost, not minding the danger it portends for democracy in the country. “I am a leading g opposition in this country, the APC is not campaigning, but they want to rig the election at all cost.

    “We are raising this alarm to save this country from major consequences in the buildup to the 2019 general elections because the planned rigging of the Ekiti State election will serve as a prelude to their planned rigging of the elections, which is capable of plunging the country into avoidable anarchy.

    “We call on the international community to in the interest of democracy in Nigeria, take interest in the Ekiti election and ensure that it is free,fair and credible.”

  • Appeal court freezes Fayose’s Zenith Bank accounts

    ….Nullifies governor’s Victory at Federal High Court

    After a relief of one year and four months, the hammer of the Court of Appeal has fallen on the two accounts of Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose domiciled with the Zenith Bank.

    The appellate court in a judgment on Tuesday ordered that the two accounts be frozen having been convinced by the argument of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that they are used to keep proceeds of crime.

    The three-man panel led Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh in allowed the appeal of the EFCC and upturned the judgment of the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti.

    Other members of the panel are Justice Boloukurumo Moses Ugo and Justice Mohammed Mustapha in the appeal marked CA/EK/8C/2017.

    The judgment of the lower court delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo on 13th December, 2016 which unblocked the governor’s two accounts domiciled with Zenith Bank.

    Fayose withdrew N5 million from one of the accounts immediately and transferred the sum of N75 to his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN).  It was unblocked by the Federal High Court order.

    Dissatisfied with the Ado-Ekiti Federal High Court verdict, the EFCC filed an appeal at the appellate court on three grounds.

    The two accounts had earlier been frozen by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu of Federal High Court, Lagos in an ex-parte motion brought by the EFCC which it was consequent upon investigations that the accounts were being used to keep proceeds of crime.

    On Monday, the EFCC had filed an application before the court to adduce fresh evidence but the court turned down the motion.

    The briefs of the parties in the appeal, the EFCC (the appellant) and Fayose (1st Respondent) and Zenith Bank (2nd Respondent) were adopted with the court adjourning to Thursday for judgment.

    The EFCC in its brief argued that Fayose is a citizen of Nigeria and his accounts could be frozen if they are found to be used to hold proceeds of crime.

    The anti-graft agency contended that the immunity enjoyed by the governor does not preclude his account from being frozen.

    The Appeal Court allowed the appeal and held that Fayose’s accounts which were unblocked by the Federal High Court be frozen.

    The court delivered the judgment upon reading the record of the appeal and after hearing EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, Fayose’s counsel, Ozekhome and Zenith Bank’s counsel, Mr. Oluwasegun Ayinde.

    Justice Ikyegh ordered: “That the appeal is meritorious and, having resolved all three issues agitated in the appeal in appellant’s (EFCC’s) favour.

    “That the appeal is hereby allowed; that the judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ekiti Judicial Division, on the 13th day of December, 2016 granting the claims of the 1st Respondent in Suit No: FHC/AD/CS/27/2016 is hereby set aside.”

    Read Also: Fayose’s excesses will spell doom for PDP in Ekiti – Oni

  • Buhari presiding over most corrupt govt in history – Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has faulted the list of alleged looters unveiled by the Federal Government which he described as “concocted and afterthought to cover the shame of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

    Fayose alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari was presiding over “the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria and protecting looters of the country’s commonwealth.”

    The Ekiti governor likened Buhari to a father who is protecting his children that are armed robbers but calling on security agents to arrest children of his neighbour for stealing meats from their mother’s pot,

    Fayose in a statement on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, insisted that the administration Buhari presides over lacks the moral justification to call some people “looters” alleging that his (Buhari’s) presidential nomination form was procured with looted cash.

    He reiterated that Nigerians were more interested in their welfare, security of their lives and physical development of the country than tales of concocted lists of corrupt Nigerians, who are only corrupt in the estimation of the government because they do not belong to the APC.

    Fayose said: “With the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, saying that corruption has become more endemic in Nigeria than it was in the last 16 years.

    “With the country moving 12 places below its rating, a honourable government would have stopped using fight against corruption as its major achievement and releasing names of people that are still under trial as looters just to cover up its failure.

    “The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) never pretended to Nigerians that it had corrupt people in its fold and the party never protected them. Today, the party has gone ahead to offload the corrupt elements into the APC and they were not only accepted gladly into the party, they were given prominent appointments by the President.”

    “For any lists of alleged looters to be credible, the President, who is protecting looters should be number one while those looters in his government should follow.

    “His nomination form was bought with proceeds of corruption and those who bought the form and financed his election were paid back with the return of all their seized properties, ministerial appointments and even disappearance of prosecution witnesses in EFCC cases.

    “A government that reinstated and promoted Abdullahi Maina, who was declared wanted for corrupt practices by the International Police Organisation, (INTERPOL) and dismissed in 2013 for alleged N2.1 billion pension fraud and used APC broom to sweep the $25 billion contracts scam in the NNPC under the carpet is nothing but a government of plunderers and that is the clear definition of Buhari’s government.

    “It was in this same government that the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole suspended the National Health Insurance Scheme Executive Secretary, Professor Usman Yusuf for alleged corruption and the President recalled him even without the knowledge of the Minister.

    “Up till today, nothing has happened to the probe panel on the allegedN500 million bribery said to have been paid to the President’s Chief of Staff (COS), Abba Kyari by officials of MTN to influence government to discontinue its heavy stance on the $5 billion fine imposed on the company.

    “Therefore, no matter how hard they try now, they can no longer hoodwink Nigerians with their deceit of fight against corruption. Even APC Senator, Shehu Sani once said that the President uses insecticide to fight corruption involving his perceived political opponents, but use deodorant when it comes it affects his own men.”

    Read Also: PDP replies APC, lists cases of alleged looting under Buhari

  • Fayose suspends Commissioner, Perm Sec over “Unauthorised foreign Trip”

    Fayose suspends Commissioner, Perm Sec over “Unauthorised foreign Trip”

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose on Friday suspended the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Jide Egunjobi and the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Adekunbi Obaisi from office.

    Fayose through a public service announcement on the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES) said the suspension of the duo would last for a period of three months.

    The statement said in part: “They are to remain suspended for three months for leaving their duty posts without notice.”

    The governor said the hammer fell on the two officials for absenting themselves from their duty post.

    But a ministry source told our reporter that Egunjobi and Obaisi entered into trouble for embarking on “unauthorised trip to the United States for a function at the latter’s alma mater.”

    The source said: “The Commissioner and the Permanent Secretary landed in trouble for travelling to the United States of America to attend the Inaugural Lecture at a university, where Mrs. Obaisi graduated from.

    “Their absence affected the running of the ministry and the governor was embarrassed by the fact that both the political head and the chief accounting officer of the ministry were not on their desks to attend to files and official duties.

    “In fact, the governor was shocked when he did not see the commissioner and permanent secretary at the activities to mark his 57th birthday and their absence was very conspicuous.

    “I know that the consequences will be dire so I am not surprised to learn on the state radio that they had been suspended.”

  • Fayose attacks Buhari for not sending him birthday greetings

    Fayose attacks Buhari for not sending him birthday greetings

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of not sending him any message to congratulate him on his 57th birthday.

    Fayose said he deserved to be sent a congratulatory message from the Presidency as “one of the governors in Nigeria and a leading opposition figure in the country.”

    On the raging controversy on who emerges the next People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the December 9 National Convention, Fayose said all chairmanship aspirants from all the geopolitical zones in the South are eligible and not only aspirants from the Southwest.

    Fayose has been accused by some PDP chieftains in Ekiti State of supporting Prince Uche Secondus from Rivers State for the post of National Chairman rather than a candidate from the Southwest to where the position had been zoned by the party.

    The governor spoke on Wednesday with reporters at the Government House, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital as part of the occasions to mark his 57th birthday.

    Fayose said “one of his greatest wishes on his 57th birthday was to have woken up this morning to receive congratulatory message from President Muhammadu Buhari or read such message in the media.”

    He said: “My wishes on my 57th birthday as Ayo Fayose are many but one of them which will interest you is that I wish ‎President Buhari’s congratulatory call would have woken me up today as one of the governors in the country, as a father of the nation and as a leading ‎opposition figure in the country.

    “(The President ought to congratulate me as) a fearless young man who believes that things should be done rightly to show himself (Buhari) as a father of all, preaching that we must extend love to everybody not only those in his political party.

    “The President would have made a difference if he had extended such gesture to others beyond his political party.  Such a congratulatory message should have been conveyed through his Minister of Information.

    “I would have loved to either wake up receiving a congratulatory call from him or read it in the papers. But since it is not coming, it is not a big deal to me and I take no offence on it.

    “I am not Buhari’s enemy; opposition is the strength of democracy, it ensures that the electorates get value for their votes. Those who criticize your government are not your enemies, they are catalysts to your growth as a government.

    “I remain a factor no one can ignore in this country. Apart from the fact that I am a leading opposition (figure), Nigerians respect my voice; they believe that I don’t compromise the truth no matter whose ox is gored.”

    On the confusion over who becomes the next PDP National Chairman, Fayose said: “Nobody can say some zone would hijack it because there is no election yet. You don’t know where the election would go. 24 hours is a long time in election.

    “What is important is that a credible candidate emerges as PDP chairman and the fact that we must as members, conclude this convention as one party.

    “You also remember that all our candidates have signed and agreed to remain one regardless of the outcome of the convention. That shows unity among us, the chairmanship is zoned to the south.”

    Responding to a question that his presidential ambition may rob the Southwest of the party’s national chairmanship slot, Fayose said: “How can only one man’s ambition rob others their own chance?

    “That is just cheap blackmail. You see when I wanted to be governor; there was nothing that could stop me because I was determined.

    “The aspirants for PDP chairmanship who have come from the South-West were determined, if not, they wouldn’t have come out. Let us say that expressly that we don’t know tomorrow, 24 hours is a long time in politics.”

    “The aspirants for PDP chairmanship who have come from the South-West were determined, if not, they wouldn’t have come out. Let us say that expressly that we don’t know tomorrow, 24 hours is a long time in politics.”

  • Fayose: No comment on my burnt SUV

    Fayose: No comment on my burnt SUV

    Barely 24 hours after he escaped death when his Mercedes Benz G-Class Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) caught fire along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos, Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose on Thursday declined comments on circumstances that led to the blaze.

    The governor also revealed that he had abandoned his office for over one year at the Governor’s Office complex saying “office of the governor is on the streets.

    He also canvassed support for his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, whom he has adopted as his candidate for the July 14, 2018 governorship election calling on the residents not to refer to him as “deputy governor” again but “our governor tomorrow.”

    All the drama took place at the Government House Pavilion in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where 11 communities got cheques of N94 million to execute development projects under Ekiti State Community Development Agency (EKSCDA), a World Bank-assisted project.

    Reporters present at the forum, who saw the governor’s presence as an opportunity to speak on the Lagos fire incident for the first time, met a brickwall as he refused to comment on it.

    Fayose interjected the reporter who asked the question, when he retorted: “I don’t want to comment on that.”

    The governor reportedly escaped into another car in his convoy when the Mercedes Benz G-Class SUV mysterious erupted in flames at about 1.30 pm on Wednesday.

    The carcass of the vehicle was towed away by officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).

    Fayose handed over the task of distributing the cheques to Olusola saying: “I am handing over the conduct of this ceremony to my deputy because you are already elected, you are already the governor.

    “Ekiti people don’t want a governor they won’t see, for the past one year, I have not entered that office because the office of the governor is on the streets and governor’s prestige should not be
    higher than his people.

    “I will miss all of you when I leave office next year, I want you to help me stand by Kolapo, an unwanted visitor will not be elected governor next year.

    “This continuity must be achieved, I am the first person (in the state) to be elected governor twice and I will be the first governor to successfully hand over to his chosen successor.”

    “By God’s grace, you (Olusola) will get there, you will crush whoever that stands on your way; my people, don’t call him deputy governor again, call him our governor tomorrow.”

    The Oloye of Oye-Ekiti who is also the Chairman of Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Oluwole Ademolaju, urged Ekiti people to support Olusola saying: “the angel we know is better than the one we don’t know.”

    Another monarch who spoke at the forum, the Olojudo of Ido-Ile, Oba Aderemi Obaleye, hailed Fayose for anointing his deputy, a feat he said is uncommon in Nigerian politics where governors and their deputies are always locked in cat and mouse game.

  • Attack on IPOB members ethnic cleansing – Fayose

    Attack on IPOB members ethnic cleansing – Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has described the crackdown on members of the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the Southeast as “ethnic cleansing.”

    Fayose accused President Muhammadu Buhari of bringing the full weight of military might on the Biafra agitators while suspected Fulani herdsmen unleashing terror in some parts of the country are left unchecked.

    Describing the Nigerian military as “army of occupation,” Fayose called on the Federal Government to stop what he called “reckless abuse of human rights” in the Southeast.

    The Ekiti governor spoke on Friday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, while hosting the state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Elders’ Caucus led by former Deputy Governor, Chief Paul Alabi, who came to express their support for the adoption of the deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as the “sole candidate” for the 2018 governorship poll.

    Fayose said: “I have said it earlier that this is beyond (Nnamdi) Kanu. That region entirely is embattled and challenged. But you know politics, time will tell.

    “The wind blowing away your wife will blow you away one day. The wind blowing away your enemy today may blow you say one day. It is unfortunate that the Ibo people are suffering this kind of fate.

    “The herdsmen wreaking havoc all over, and killing, what has the military done to deal with them. Has anyone of the herdsmen been prosecuted let alone giving them this kind of treatment.

    “You went to court to revoke Kanu’s bail but you can’t even wait for the court to take decision before occupying his house. Nigeria is in trouble except the Lord helps us. When the wicked are in authority, the people suffers, when the righteous are there, the people rejoice.

    “We are in a major dilemma. Buhari coming back to power as I have said before is like returning to the dark days of the 1984 in no time, because they want to gag Nigerians they came up with law against hate speech.”

    He added: “I have said it before now that it is only God that can help the Igbo people. What I see going on the is ethnic cleansing, when you see the video clips of that occupation the behaviour of the soldiers it leaves much to be desired.

    “But they cannot act like that without a whistle blower, somebody is behind them telling them go and cleanse the people. That is recklessness; human rights violation in Nigeria today is second to
    none. And I hope the international community would not be quiet on this. It is unfortunate.”