The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has
accused the Federal Government of plotting to hide under the killings
in Zamfara State by bandits to impose emergency rule on the
state, warning “the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal
government cannot hide under its own failure to secure the lives of
Nigerians to achieve its selfish partisan agenda.”
Fayose, who is the South-West Coordinator of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council alleged that the plot was a
response to the insistence of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) not to allow the APC to field candidates for the
2019 general elections in Zamfara State as a result of failure to
comply with the Electoral Act.
In a statement personally signed by him on Tuesday, the former
governor alleged that the federal government plot was aimed at paving
way for a fresh electoral process in the state so that APC can field
candidates.
“With the emergency rule, there will only be Presidential and National
Assembly elections in the state in February next year while
governorship and House of Assembly elections will be postponed
till May,” he said.
He advised the federal government to admit its failure and apologise
to the people of Zamfara State, who were left at the mercy of bandits, noting that “using the killings to achieve political goal is
not only wicked but inhuman.”
Fayose said the federal government must be reminded that “Under the
PDP government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, emergency rule was declared in
three states in the Northeast without dismantling democratic
institutions.
The former governor also urged the Zamfara State governor, Abdul-aziz
Yari Abubakar, to stand up for his people and democracy so as to save
the country from going under, adding; “I’m aware that the governor is
abroad and I advise that he should return home. This is the time for
him to be a man and stand in defence of his people rather than
standing with their oppressors.”
He called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the APC-led federal
government to avoid jeopardising democracy in the country by going
ahead with its plot to manipulate the 2019 general elections like it
was done in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
