The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has warned former governor of Abia State, Mr. Orji Kalu, against his planned advocacy visit to the state in order to curry support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid. the governor made this known in a statement issued on Saturday.
According to him, the Ekiti State Government, the former governor should “take his advocacy for peace to other parts of the country where the security of lives and properties of Nigerians is under threat, not Ekiti State that even the police adjudged as the most peaceful state in the country”.
Kalu, who is acting as the Chairman, Advisory Board for the National Movement for Re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari, is currently on a tour of the South-west states which is purportedly a visit to advocate peace, fairness, and unity of the country with a view to also rally support for the president’s 2019 re-election bid.
However, the Ekiti State Government, in the statement issued by the Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said: “There is no threat to peace and unity of Nigeria from Ekiti State for anyone, including Orji Kalu to address. Therefore, he should not expect to be welcomed to any palace in Ekiti State.”
The government also called on traditional rulers in the state to ignore the former Abia State governor on his visit. “It is an insult on the collective sensibilities of Ekiti people, whose only benefit from the government of President Buhari is hardship occasioned by the government’s cluelessness for anyone to hide under advocacy for peace to canvass support for the president,” the statement reads.
The state government stated that it was unspeakable that because of the former governor’s issue with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he has imposed on himself, the task of embarking on image laundering for a president whose government is inflicting sufferings on its citizens.
According to the statement, “If he has sold his own conscience to the agenda of selling an already rejected product to Nigerians, we in Ekiti State have not, and we are telling him categorically that such advocacy is not welcome in our state.”
“He should rather take his peace and unity advocacy to his own state, where he is already rejected and other states where Nigerians are being killed on daily basis by bandits.”
“It is also ridiculous that instead of joining Nigerians to tell the president the truth about the state of affairs in the country, Kalu is castigating Nigerians that have summoned courage to speak out against the president through letters and public comments.”
