Posted on: 02:01 Sun, 27 Mar 2016



He speaks like somebody who has
guts. To him, no argument can dent
the “rightness” of his position on
the Presidency of Muhammadu
Buhari. Yet, he tells you he is not
confrontational.

He claims he has prioritized
governance with a view to putting
the welfare of the people first.

Perhaps, this is the reason he was
re-elected after staying out of
power for eight years. In this
interview in Abuja, Ayo Fayose,
Ekiti State governor, says Buhari is
not technically equipped to better
the lot of Nigerians.

He also speaks on the retreat by the
National Economic Council (NEC).

Excerpts:
On the National Economic Council,
NEC, retreat in Abuja
It is a good idea if we do not have
the same rhetorics. We all know
where the problem is, where the
problem is coming from. The reality
is that we need a change of
attitude. That’s what we need.

No matter what you say, the
ministers, the governors, some are
two-term governors, some are
leaders of this country before, like
Chief Audu Ogbeh, they know
where the problem lies and what
they need to do to tackle it.

The attitude of everybody must
change; from the President to the
last man in government and
beyond government. If you want to
dispense justice, for instance, you
must dispense it equally. If you
want to fight corruption, you must
fight it equitably. If we are talking
about restructuring our economy,
the economy is not all about itself.

There are other parameters.
If you oppress me, I will not be
favourably disposed to the
programmes you are offering me.

But the moment the president of
the country becomes everybody’s
father, his agenda and the agenda
for the nation will be pushed by all
parties and stakeholders.

So we have had a lot of these
things. We have been through such
a gathering (economic retreat) but,
at the end of the day, will it not be
the same old rhetorics, same
strategies? Is it not a diversionary
move to make Nigerians think you
are working on the economy?

Meanwhile, this is a government
that was elected almost one year
ago, but which doesn’t know what it
is doing, doesn’t know what it
wants, doesn’t know why it got
there; maybe it wanted power but
not to put Nigeria on the path of
prosperity.

So, it is a good idea that we should
talk about the economy of the
country, but I think the driver
should know the direction more
than the passengers. But he doesn’t
know; he is just fishing. He is
fishing for ideas on how to run
Nigeria.

With due respect, people may not
like the way I am saying it right
now, but they have to come to
terms with reality. You can’t grow
more than your pastor. You can’t
grow more than your MD under the
same roof. He is limited by old age.

He is limited by academic
competence and he is limited by
exposure. If you can’t grow more
than your pastor, what do you
offer? Meanwhile, everybody has to
look up to the President. So with his
APC family, they ought to have had
an economic team, economic
master plan for Nigeria. They
would have set the direction.

There are indicators of an
economy. Indicators of an economy
will tell you what will happen next
year; will tell you that next year,
there will be drop in rain for
farming and that we must build
irrigation. It will tell you, there are
going to be issues that could make
the economy get gloomy. That is
why we have technology. That is
why we have advanced
information. That is why you have
specialists.

The President is the President. He is
not the Minister for Finance. He is
not the technical adviser. I was
reading in the papers where
someone said that the ministers of
the President are incompetent or
something like that, but I am not
condemning them. I am only saying
that the President himself had two
months before being sworn-in.
Since he came, the dollar has risen
from 200 naira to almost 400 Naira.

I don’t blame him for the drop in
oil price, but the fact is that I blame
him for not being proactive to
finding solution to those challenges.

Second, we should ask the President
why Nigerians are suffering under
him more than ever before. Look at
electricity tariff. In most cases,
people will never get supply of
electricity; they get it maybe once a
month. Yet, they get what we call
estimated bills.

The people are so disenchanted.

The people are not happy. There
was this international body that
said findings showed that Nigerians
are unhappy more than ever
before. Something must be causing
all that. If you look at that last six
elections across the federation, APC
has not won and it shows people
are saying, ‘Have we not missed the
road?’

The fact remains that when a
disease catches up with you, you
will not know until it is about
terminating your life. If you look at
the violence greeting our elections
now, it will amaze you, it will give
you concern. Even the worst of
(former President|) Jonathan,
abuse him, say what you want, but
he promised there will be free and
fair elections and he delivered,
even against himself. If this was the
kind of violence that greeted
Buhari’s election, would he ever be
President? No! Nigerians don’t
know party, they know their
stomach.

They know their business. They
know their economy. Let’s look
back and imagine that so many
middle class businesses are gone.

Look at me with a daughter abroad
and somebody says my daughter
can’t get maintenance money in
dollars anymore. The education of
my children has come to a halt
after building such a child to year
three in the university. This is an
indicator of incompetence, a
clueless administration. Sometimes,
APC people might have clues but
the President doesn’t have. He has
no clue. You see these things, people
are afraid to say it.

You have been very critical of this
administration and the President. Do
you have any personal…?

Everything I have said is backed
with facts and figures. It is not
about being critical of this
administration. I didn’t start today.

I started before the 2015 elections.

I told Nigerians not to vote for him
(Buhari). I was a young man of 24,
25 years when Buhari was the Head
of State of this country. The Yoruba
man will say, ‘If you have taken a
medicine that works for you, please
give me’.

We took a medicine which kills.

Anybody that is 40 years old today
that voted for Buhari doesn’t know
Buhari because, from 1984 to date,
it will be 32 years. So, a guy of
eight years won’t say he knows
Buhari clearly. So, add that eight
years to 32 years, that is 40 years,
they voted for a man they never
knew. So, if you remove people
from the age bracket of 18 – 40 and
remove the votes from Buhari’s
votes, you will know that he
couldn’t have won the election.

I am not critical of anybody. When
APC is talking about me, they say
whatever they want to say but I
defeated them in all elections even
when they call it militarization,
even when they say Fayose is
controversial; in every battle I will
win them. Even when you have
over taken, like after my
impeachment, by His grace, they
were over taken again and
lambasted by the Supreme Court.

There is a difference between
vendetta and the reality on the
ground. If I am incompetent, Ekiti
people will not vote for me eight
years after.

What chances does PDP have in 2019?
What chances do you have to live
till tomorrow? A lot of people
blabbing today, who told them they
will be alive at that time? Who is
telling our oppressors that they will
be there by tomorrow; that it won’t
be me that will be there by that
time? You understand, we have
seen so many things in this
country. I am the longest serving
Nigerian governor.

I served in Obasanjo’s
administration. I served in
Jonathan’s and I am serving in
Buhari’s administration now. You
see, I am not a small boy that
anyone toys around with. You want
to try me with impeachment, they
have done it before. You want to
try me with state of emergency,
they have done it before. You want
to clamp someone in prison, they
have done it before. I am an
experienced man. I am fearless.

The reason is that greater is He that
is in me than he that is in them.

And let me remind you, if they
have another person that they will
join with Buhari to get more forces,
they will bow to this Force here. I
am telling you the truth.

Power doesn’t come from
anywhere. God rules in the affairs
of men. Oppressing, bringing and
cutting people down, dropping
people, taking their blood on the
ground, God is angry.

God isn’t happy. How can you be
cutting people down? You go to
Rivers and kill people, you go to
Akwa Ibom and kill people, you go
to Bayelsa, you kill people,
incarcerate innocent people. God is
angry with Buhari.

You can’t continue to take the blood
of the innocent. Look at my
predictions for 2016 for Nigeria,
everything has come to pass. This is
a different ball game. He that will
take me, he that will go against me
must first of all defeat God.