Those in APC saying I’m Sponsoring IPOB Are Under Political Bondage, I Can’t Be Blackmailed – Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described those saying
that he was the one sponsoring the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
as people who have put themselves in political bondage and have
allowed what they will eat to becloud their sense of normal reasoning,
declaring that no amount of blackmail will stop him from expressing
his mind against the All Progressives Congress (APC) government’s
disrespect for the constitutional rights of Nigerians.

Governor Fayose, who said he was not surprised that the APC in Ekiti
State raised the ridiculous allegation, added that the same APC people
took side with Fulani herdsmen when they killed people in Oke-Ako,
Ekiti State and destroyed farmlands worth several millions of naira in
the State.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and
New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said he was not among those
Nigerians that can be cowed by anyone, asking; “Now that the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki has come out to openly say that
categorization of IPOB as a ‘terrorist organisation’ by the military
is unconstitutional, is the APC also going to accuse him of sponsoring
IPOB?”

The governor said he was not unaware that Ekiti State could be the
main target of the ‘operation crocodile smile’ that the army said will
commence in the Southwest and South South, asking what security threat
was being witnessed in the Southwest to warrant a major military
operation.
Governor Fayose said; “It is on record that on June 10, 2013, it was
widely reported in the media that the current Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was the National Publicity Secretary of
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said that the proscription of Boko
Haram was against the constitution, that it stifled the press and
tampered with the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.
“It is also on record that in June 2013, President Buhari told the
Federal Government to stop the clampdown of Boko Haram insurgents,
accusing the government of killing and destroying houses belonging to
Boko Haram members while the Niger Delta militants were giving special
treatment.
“Should we now say that Lai Mohammed and President Buhari sponsored
Boko Haram because they spoke against the federal government’s
clampdown on the insurgents then?”
The governor, who likened the militarization of Nigeria, being
witnessed now to 1984 when President Muhammadu Buhari was military
Head of State, said “killing unarmed Nigerians in the Southeast or
anywhere in the country, just because some people are agitating is
wrong and I wonder why none of our so called human rights activists is
talking now.

“Herdsmen have sacked a whole community in this country, they killed
over 1,000 Agatus in Benue State and have destroyed people’s farmlands
across the country, has any of the herdsmen been arrested? Has any
conceited effort been made by the federal government to curb the
menace of the Fulani herdsmen?

“If because I spoke against the wanton killings carried out by the
military in the Southeast, the APC is saying that I’m funding IPOB,
was I the one funding the people of Southern Kaduna when I condemned
the killings there?

“Was I funding the Agatus in Benue State when I condemned their
killings by Fulani herdsmen? Was I funding the Shiite Muslims when I
condemned the killings of El-Zakzaky followers in Zaria and his
continued detention?

“Mine is a mission for a Nigeria where no one will be treated like a
second class citizen and we can only achieve that if we have leaders
that will not be a champion of nepotism like President Buhari.”