Attack on Buhari: Fayose Must Drop One-Day-One- Trouble Style, Says Bamidele

A member of House of Representatives, Hon Opeyemi
Bamidele, has cautioned governor Ayodele Fayose against
dragging the name of the State in the mud over his consistent
tirades against Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
It will be recalled that Fayose had consistently been describing
Buhari, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives
Congress as too old and sick to be president of the country .
Fayose also added that Buhari's had been hospitalised in an
undisclosed hospital where he has been receiving medical
attention since he jetted out of the country last Friday, contrary
to the position canvassed by APC that he was in United
Kingdom for a working visit.
In a statement in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, Bamidele urged Fayose
to continue to toe the line of civilility and follow the footsteps
of people like Chief Afe Babalola and many other illustrious
indigenes of the State, whose conducts had brought
unprecedented respect to the State, rather than dragging the
State into public odium.
He said the statements credited to Governor Fayose, if indeed
they came from him, constitute a rude invasion of General
Muhammadu Buhari's privacy and a rough neck tactic to try to
dog such a national figure that way.
Even if, according to Governor Fayose, General Buhari had
visited a hospital during his foreign trip, the reasonable
question to ask, I would think, is whether or not General Buhari
deserves rest or even a medical check-up after a full-fledged
and most rigorous (over 30 days) campaign during which he did
not miss a single rally?
Bamidele, who is representing Ekiti Central Federal
Constituency 1, said it was quite unfathomable and rather
contradictory that when President Goodluck Jonathan is doing
all he can to convince Nigerians and members of the
international community that he is committed to the survival of
our democracy, that Fayose was busy throwing tantrums to the
opposition.
"Just like President Jonathan has a right to contest and
legitimately expect to win, he has equally assured all and
sundry that if he loses the election, he will honourably handover
to the winner, making it clear that neither a military nor an
interim regime would be an acceptable alternative.
"If President Jonathan is speaking in this parlance and
Governor Fayose is busy abusing former President
OlusegunObasanjo while denigrating the age and person of
Gen. Buhari to the extent of wishing him dead, then surely
Governor Fayose must be weeping more than the bereaved. And
when a sympathiser is weeping more than the bereaved, there is
definitely a cause for suspicion.
"Let Governor Fayose call himself to order. Let him leave Gen.
Buhari alone and come up with a more positive and decent
manner of adding value to the Our democracy and Politics.
Right now, he is a like cancer to our body politic.
"Let him stop dragging the name and image of Ekiti in the mud.
Ekiti people abhor hate politics and if even Abuja would
disown Gov. Fayose's hate campaign style, then the extent of
damage he is doing to the Jonathan campaign in Ekiti State is
better left in the realm of imagination".
Bamidele appealed to Fayose to jettison one day-one trouble
style of governance and settle down for real deal, saying Ekiti
in her present socio-economic situation needs a critical, sober
and scientific leadership intervention and not jackboot
approach as being allegedly applied by the governor.
He said the precarious situation of the State's economy calls for
a conducive atmosphere that would enable all well-meaning
sons and daughters of Ekiti at home and abroad to pull ideas
together on what is to be done to rescue the State from imminent
collapse and bring her glory back from sabbatical.
" In the face of dwindling oil revenues and the need to diversify
our economy, leadership ingenuity, clear understanding of the
microeconomic fundamentals and commitment to global best
practice standards of good governance must be the watch word
and policy thrust of any Government that wants to be taken
seriously".
He expressed sadness that many leaders of the political class
would rather celebrate a poverty of ideas at the expense of
ensuring robust reasoning and proffering perspectives on the
way forward for Nigeria in a way that potential voters would be
able to make up their minds on which candidate to vote for on
the basis of superior postulation and demonstrated strength of
character.
He said: "No decent Ekiti man or woman, either in the private or
public sector, and no Ekiti politician, either in PDP, APC,
Labour Party or any other political party can be proud of how
Governor Fayose has carried himself since the beginning of this
campaign or how he has continued to portray the image of Ekiti
as a community of people with integrity deficit.
"As an Ekiti stakeholder, I, like other credible illustrious
citizens of the State, deal with this issue on a daily basis, taking
pain to explain the Ekiti personality and core values to those
who care to listen, reminding all concerned people at home and
abroad that fine gentlemen and patriots like Aare Afe Babalola,
Chief Wole Olanipekun, Com. Femi Falana are indigenes of the
State".
The list of other indigenes mentioned by Bamidele include:
Prof. Akin Oyebode, Pa Ayo Fasanmi, Sir Remi Omotoso, Prof.
MobolajiAluko, Prof. Jide Oluwasanmi, Justice
AdemolaAjakaiye (Rtd.), Prof. Adeniran, Prof.
BabalolaBorisade, among others.