Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the Governor of Ekiti State, has made a pretty bold claim, accusing the federal government of deluding Nigerians over the purportedly missing students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.
He also claims that the All Progressives Congress (APC) used the situation to defeat former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said he viewed with amusement the advocacy of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili-driven Bring Back Our Girls movement, which has been pressing for the recovery of the missing girls.
“You can’t get what is not missing,” the governor said.
The girls were kidnapped in April, 2014 by Boko Haram and had since been declared missing by the federal government.
Fayose, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti at a two-day workshop organized by Women Arise for Change Initiative, said the rumour of the missing girls was mere political fabrication meant to get Jonathan out of office at all costs.
“The cries over missing girls were just a political strategy. What could Boko Haram have used to carry those girls? However, if truly missing, they should be recovered . One thing I know is that what is not missing you cannot get,” he said.
On the erosion of the rights of women to hold political positions, Fayose begged Nigerian men to stop intimidating them and allow them to enjoy the freedom of association guaranteed to them by the 1999 constitution.
“It pains me that some of the human rights activists had gone since the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. They have lost their voices. Where were they when DSS invaded the Ekiti House of Assembly and arrested a lawmaker and locked him up?
“They were flouting court’s orders at will and victimising opposition. It is better we collectively speak up now or we are consumed.
“In some homes, men had cowed their wives and made them subservient. The wives have no rights to claim or defend. But before you can claim anything, the wives or female in general must be up to the task. You have to be intellectually and socially alert.
“Don’t just, because you are a woman, lose your voice. With this, women shall collectively regain what belongs to them”.