In a statement issued on Monday by Ekiti State Governor's Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Governor Fayose has reacted to President Buhari's visit to Taraba and planned visit to Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers states.
Gov. Fayose
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Taraba and planned visit to Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers states, as an after-thought and not altrusitic.
The states have been ravaged by insecurity and carnages that have claimed many lives in recent months.
Mr. Buhari has been criticised for not visiting the affected states which may have prompted a recent announcement by the presidency that he would be visiting the states.
“Obviously, the president is more concerned about his reelection in 2019 and his visit to those states that he abandoned during their times of trouble is to seek for votes, not to sympathise with the people of the states on their loses,” Mr. Fayose, a notable critic of Mr. Buhari, said.
He likened the president to a ”selfish king who went on making merry while his people were in agony only to show up when the people had already buried their loved ones that were gruesomely murdered, gotten over their anguish and moved on with their lives.”
In a statement issued by Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said it was the ”height of cruelty that the same President Buhari, who promised to lead from the front in the fight against Boko Haram could not visit Dapchi, Yobe State where 110 school girls were abducted by the insurgents, elected to go on merry making in Kano.”
“On January 9 and 12, this year, 88 victims of herdsmen attacks were given mass burial in Taraba State. Also on January 11, 2018, another 73 persons killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue State were buried in a mass grave in Makurdi, the state capital.
“Meaning that in Taraba and Benue States alone, 161 Nigerians were given mass burial within three days! This never caught the attention of our President. Rather, it was a visit to Nasarawa, a neighbouring State to Benue that was important to him.
“To further demonstrate his lack of compassion for Nigerians, while the entire nation, especially parents of the 110 abducted school girls in Dapchi, Yobe State are still in anguish, President Buhari went to Kano last Saturday to attend a social function, thus sparking negative reactions from Nigerians.
“Apparently, it was the negative reactions of Nigerians, especially on social media and the effects on the president’s reelection bid that necessitated his hurried visit to Taraba State today, and planned visits to Benue, Zamfara, Yobe and Rivers States.
“I am sure the people of Taraba State won’t be hoodwinked by the President’s cosmetic sympathy, show of concern and crocodile tears, which he never bothered to shed when hundreds of indigenes of the State were being killed by suspected herdsmen,” the governor said.
While declaring the visits as belated and afterthought, Governor Fayose said; “Nigerians can no longer be deceived by a president who never cared for them when they needed him most. Therefore, no amount of hurriedly organised campaign visits will sway the people.”