Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State on Tuesday at an event organised by the Oyo State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day said a vast majority of Nigerians in the South west voted in Buhari due to ignorance and a desperate need for change.
Speaking at the event held in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the Ekiti State Governor noted that his continuous criticism of the government led by Buhari was not borne out of his hatred for him but instead, he believed Buhari at 73 was not strong enough to lead the nation.
Fayose added that the reign of the president over the last one year has brought untold hardship to Nigerians as the citizens have never had it so bad, he noted the fuel crisis, exchange rate, incessant killings by the Fulani herdsmen and the power situation as point of references.
He said: “People say that I abuse Buhari, I am not abusing him because he is like my grandfather but I know the history. Eighty per cent of people that voted for Buhari in the South-West did not know him. They are between 18 and 40. They voted because they wanted change desperately and I agree with them. He left government 32 years ago so they did not experience his rule.
“Today, the Peoples Democratic Party is no longer in government so they should stop blaming the PDP. They told us that dollars would become one to one with the naira. But where is that today? The regime of fuel subsidy is gone and we now have food subsidy. Queues are back at petrol stations. Whatever I say is divine. The next thing to happen will be the removal of the Kogi State governor. I have not lost a battle in my life and when I lost one, I came back to win.
“We have never had it so bad like in the last 12 months; electricity has gone to zero and we no longer have light in our houses. I am here to tell Nigerians that we are in the wrong direction because you cannot give what you don’t have. There is a time to retire because of the diminishing return on the functionality of the brain. At 75, my mother can do little.”
Describing the ongoing anti-corruption war embarked upon by the Buhari-led administration as one-sides and bias, Fayose said: “When you want to deal with corruption, do it wholeheartedly. Don’t say because this person has now joined the All Progressives Congress, he is now a saint. When I was supporting the ACN, they gave me many titles. Now that I am no longer with them, they see me as an enemy,”.