The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said it is too late for Nigeria to break up, calling for dialogue to resolve various agitations in the country.
Fayose said this while reacting to Wednesday’s meeting the governors of the South-East states had with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
He said the meeting had provided a veritable platform, which all Igbo must key into otherwise they would remain guinea pig in Nigeria.
The governor, who appealed to the Federal Government to allow political solutions to agitations by Nigerians as against the use of brute force said, he remained “committed to the call for full and total restructuring of Nigeria through dialogue and negotiation because it is too late for Nigeria to disintegrate.”
According to a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said he was “particularly glad that South-East governors have come to the realisation that they cannot ignore their own in times like this as agitation is normal and must not be ignored, although the approach should be handled with caution.”
Fayose blamed the actions and utterances of President Muhammadu Buhari for the agitations going on in the country.
“The father figure of this country is President Buhari and if his language does not represent unity, there will be agitations like we are witnessing now.
“A father figure rallies even the bad boys in his house. The utterances and actions of Buhari when he became President were against the unity of this country.
“How can a president say that he will only attend to the needs of those who gave him 97 per cent vote and neglect others who didn’t vote for him?
“For Nigeria to move forward and in unity; there must be no sectionalism, there must be no oppression and there must be justice and equity.”
The governor commended the northern leaders for standing up to ensure that the Arewa youths’ quit notice against the Igbo in the North was resolved and withdrawn without necessarily arresting and detaining anyone.
Saying that the same could be achieved by the Igbo leaders, he warned that arresting or re-arresting Kanu “may be counter-productive as it may be perceived as vilification of the entire South-East geopolitical zone, not necessarily Kanu as a person.” – Punch.
