Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to call and speak to him if he really is hale and hearty.
He issued the challenge on Sunday, after the President was reported to have said he was returning soon to continue the project of fixing Nigeria after a time of rest in London.
President Buhari’s message had come through the Governor of Kogi State Yahaya Bello at the weekend.
Governor Bello is the second governor that President Buhari would be speaking with after his discussion with Governor Ganduje of Kano State.
The President had also been reported to have spoken with the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, who recently lost his wife and with foreign leaders, including President Donald Trump of the United States, Moroccan leader, King Mohammed VI and African Union chairperson, President Alpha Conde of Guinea. The phone conversation which happened in Lagos on the governor’s trip back from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 80th birthday celebrations which lasted for minutes, was in the presence of the speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly, a few other members of the House, commissioners and other top government functionaries.
“Governor Yahaya Bello, I am impressed by your leadership qualities, what you are doing in Kogi State and all your prayers and support for me and Nigeria. I am resting here and will soon return home to continue our project of fixing Nigeria,” the governor was quoted as saying in a press statement
“Nigeria has won respect globally because of your integrity and the anti-graft war that has been hugely successful,” Bello said.
“We are praying for you. Kogites and Nigerians are solidly behind your administration as we continue to wish you sound health and the grace of Allah.”
However, Governor Fayose said that rather than shop for outsiders to speak with to prove to Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari is hale and hearty, the president should be encouraged instead to speak with him(Fayose)
He said he advised the President to speak with him for the purpose of convincing Nigerians that he is hale and hearty instead of looking for people outside the country to convince Nigerians.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, Fayose picked holes in statements that Buhari had spoken in one week, first with the king of Morocco and next with the president of the African Union.
“If their problem is that they are looking for a credible person who can help them convince Nigerians that all is well with our President, Ayo Fayose is their best bet. Let the president speak with me. If I tell Nigerians that the president spoke with me, Nigerians will believe”, he said.
Nigerians, he added, are getting suspicious of all the purported visits to Buhari in London as well as his orchestrated telephone conversations with international figures who Nigerians cannot trust to give a true and unbiased report about the president’s state of health.”
Since they are eager for the president to speak to people; believing in this way to convince Nigerians that their President is hale and hearty, let President Buhari talk to me. I can be reached on 08035024994. I am credible and Nigerians will believe me”, he said.
“They said he spoke to President Donald Trump; despite the hype, Nigerians were sceptical. Then they said he spoke to the king of Morocco; again, Nigerians were suspicious. Before we recovered from that, it is now the AU president that they said President Buhari spoke to.
“A president that can speak with outsiders should be able to whisper or wave to his own people. The people gave him the very important platform of President on which he stands today and, therefore, Presidential aides should stop giving the unhelpful impression that Buhari has no respect for the Nigerian electorate.”
