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.”
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