Governor Ayodele Fayose has taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of showing more concern for issues pertaining to other countries, rather than dealing with the problems facing the Nigeria.
He, therefore, urged the president to pay more attention to security and economic issues affecting Nigeria, describing his condemnation of Sunday’s terrorist attack on the Grand Bassam Resort in Cote D’Ivoire as “hypocritical and demonstration of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians”.
“If President Buhari could afford to pick his phone and call the Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, immediately after the attack, Nigerians must ask the President why he kept mute for days over the Fulani herdsmen massacre of over 300 Agatu people of Benue State, the Mile 12 Lagos killings and wanton destruction of properties among others”, Fayose was quoted in a statement on Tuesday by Lere Olayinka, his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media.
The governor noted that it was strange that President Buhari was more concerned with the killing of 16 people in Cote D’Ivoire than the Fulani herdsmen’s murder of over 300 citizens of Nigeria.
Mr. Fayose said even more alarming was the reported attack on former Senate President, David Mark, by the Fulani herdsmen last Saturday when he went on inspection of the eight communities sacked by the Fulani herdsmen, yet, there was no official reaction from the president condemning the terror attack.
“From all indications, our president has abandoned governance. The only thing going on in the minds of those running the affairs of this country in Abuja is how to entrench themselves in power by crushing anyone perceived as capable of hindering them”, said Mr. Fayose.
“That is the reason they are using the Department of State Services (DSS) to harass and intimidate us here in Ekiti, under flimsy excuses like investigation of members of the State House of Assembly for alleged forgery of tax certificates when the Ekiti State Government, which issued the certificates have not complained to the DSS that its tax certificates were forged by the lawmakers.
“That is also the reason the president keeps showing his anger against Nnamdi Kanu and his Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) agitators while the same president has failed to approach the economy and insecurity, especially the Fulani herdsmen menace with the same level of anger.
“Even when their own Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, has told Nigerians that the economy has gone out of the hands of the president, they keep using anti-corruption fight to persecute opposition elements both in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their own party, All Progressives Congress (APC), forgetting that fighting corruption is not a substitute for putting food on the table of Nigerians.
“The president must therefore be made to realise that Nigerians are suffering, with price of foodstuffs skyrocketing. The economy is in comatose, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen are killing people. President Buhari must learn to begin to cry over Nigeria’s problems first before going to other countries to cry over their problems for them”.