Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has not spoken with
President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two years.
Fayose, who has been critical of the President, especially
on his state of health before election and after his inauguration, said he
refused to speak with the President’s security chief to whom his calls to the
Presidential Villa were diverted because he considered it an “insult”.
He also spoke on ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Third term
bid, how the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was picked as the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate in 2007, among other issues, in an interview published by
The Interview magazine.
He said: “Well, we met twice or so during the Council of
State meetings. There is nothing personal. I represent Ekiti State, he represents
Nigeria. That is the basis of our interaction. Nothing personal.
Asked if he had said as much as ‘hello’ to the President,
Fayose added: “No.”
“For me, during our meeting, whenever any issue arose and I
felt I should make a contribution, I raised my hand and spoke. That is it.
“I remember I tried to call him several times before he took
ill. Then, there was this day I called again and the switchboard told me that
any call from me must be diverted to President Buhari’s Chief Security Officer
(CSO). And I felt that was very insulting.
“The CSO to the President is an ordinary policeman, who I
assume, is just a little over and above my own CSO. I am a governor, a governor
of a state. I felt that was an insult to the people of Ekiti State I represent.
“Yes my calls to him (the President) were diverted twice to
the CSO. I refused to talk to the CSO because I consider it insulting.”
On the aborted Third
Term agenda of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Fayose said bribed were offered.
He said while the principal officers of the National
Assembly in 2006 got N100million each, the other lawmakers were given
N50million each.
He alleged that the former President knelt down for the late
Libyan leader Mouamar Ghaddaffi to seek his backing for Third Term.
He also said Obasanjo knew about the ill-health of the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua before he was picked as PDP candidate.
Fayose said: “Yes it is true. The people I am going to
mention here, two of the key players are now dead. That position of
Presidential Selection Committee that I headed was set up by all PDP governors.
Initially, they wanted Dr. Olusegun Agagu. Then, the majority insisted that
they wanted Fayose. So, since the majority wanted me, Baba (Olusegun Obasanjo)
invited me to Ota and encouraged me to go ahead. I remember the committee was
made up of Governors Danjuma Goje, Ahmed Makarfi, Bukola Saraki, James lbori,
me and one other person who I cannot remember now. I want to tell you that, at
some point, the majority of the committee was more disposed to having Markafi
as the presidential nominee. l and one other person were the only dissenters
“. So, as a loyal Obasanjo boy then, I went to Obasanjo and
told that this committee that was set up, everybody seemed to prefer Markafi
except me and one other person and we were in the minority.
“Five out of seven governors wanted Makarfi. Then Obasanjo
pointedly told me that Markafi was too smart and would not be easily controlled
by him and, therefore, I must ensure that Markafi did not emerge the
presidential candidate. He mandated me to be briefing him often about the way
things were going.
“He confided in me that whether it was Markafi or anybody
that he was not prepared to leave. At that time, the Third Term agenda had
begun to unfold in Abuja. I can tell you that l was co-opted into the secret
committee that was behind it. In that body, we had had this senator from
Plateau, Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Andy Uba and many others. We were the key
players. Let me tell you the truth: at that time, I did not have a choice. l
was just a young man without experience.
“…The senators started at about 11am in the morning and by 1
pm each senator was asked to stand up and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ before live
television coverage whether they supported Third Term or not, and the majority
had their way. So Obasanjo’s dream of Third Term was shut down. Thereafter, he
called a national meeting of PDP, termed reconciliation meeting and denied that
he asked or worked for Third Term.
“Meanwhile, before that time, N50 million was given to every
federal lawmaker to support Third Term. The majority collected the money and
still voted against Third Term. Principal officers got N100 million each. Where
did that huge sum of money come from?”
Fayose opened up on the politics behind the choice of the
late President Umaru Yar’Adua as a presidential candidate of PDP.
He said the current Chairman of the PDP, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi
was sidelined in favour of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
He added: “Let me now come to the Yar’Adua issue. Obasanjo
now called me and said, ‘Now that Third Term has failed, you should go ahead
with the PDP committee. And in order for me to check those rooting for Markafi, I should go and
sound Yar’Adua out on the ticket. He told me, ‘Don’t tell him I asked you to
come. You psyche him up’. So, l met Yar’Adua in his lodge in Katsina. I met
Yar’Adua in the company of Yakubu Tanimu (who became his influential chief
economic adviser) and his police orderly.
“I remember that while our interaction lasted, the orderly
knelt down close to Yar’Adua. I acted as directed by Obasanjo, but the man told
me expressly that he was not well enough to aspire to be Nigerian president;
that the job would be too rigorous for him.
“After much persuasion, he then told me the only condition
under which he might consider running was if all stakeholders would sign up and
reach an agreement to pick him as the consensus candidate because he did not
want any hassles.”
He said: “ I remember, before then, Yar’Adua was hardly
attending Council of State meetings because of his health. So, l went to tell
Baba what Yar’Adua told me. On the issue of Yar’Adua’s ill-health. I remember
Obasanjo told me, ‘Don’t worry about his sickness; government money dey to
manage his ill-health.’ Baba told me to go and put the outcome of my
interaction with Yar’Adua in writing.
“Then Masari became the first loser; because, until then,
Bello Masari as the Speaker of House of Reps was very loyal to Baba and did all
the dirty jobs Baba wanted him to do, with the promise that he would be made
the next Katsina governor after Yar’Adua. But once Yar’Adua became anointed as
PDP candidate, he preferred Shema to be his successor. That was one of the
conditions he listed. That was how a wedge came between Yar’Adua and Masari.
“That was the genesis of the rift between Shema and Masari
up until today. Shema was then the deputy national chairman of PDP. That was
how Masari defected to CPC. What I am trying to say is that Obasanjo engineered
all the bitterness that exists in Katsina politics today.”
THE NATION
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