The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has
said his asking for forgiveness should not be
taken for cowardice by his opponents, saying his
tenure in office will be determined by God.
He said he took the step to seek a genuine
reconciliation with the All Progressives Congress,
whose 19 lawmakers in the state House of
Assembly were plotting his impeachment.
The governor spoke on Sunday at the
thanksgiving service organised for him at the
Cathedral Church of Emmanuel, Anglican
Communion, Ado Ekiti, to celebrate his electoral
victory at the Supreme Court.
Fayose said, “I asked for forgiveness for
reconciliation and to pursue genuine peace.
Waiving the olive branch does not mean
cowardice, it is for peace.
“Conspiracy is against God’s will. What better
way could one seek peace other than asking for
forgiveness.”
The governor advised the APC to emulate
President Goodluck Jonathan who conceded
defeat and saved Nigeria from disintegrating.
“When I contested for Senate they said I lost and
I did not fight anyone. I did not go to the tribunal
and I was saying good things about the
government then. The opposition should be
courageous enough to accept defeat. I follow
Jonathan in and out of office. Jonathan gave up
for survival of Nigeria. Jonathan prevented the
prophecy that Nigeria would break up in 2015.
“I’m enjoying the mandate of God through his
people and that cannot be controverted. My sin is
because I allowed the common man to breathe
the air of hope.
“The people have spoken (governorship election),
they said it was military intervention. They spoke
the second term (presidential election), is that one
photochromic? And they spoke again the third
time (House of Assembly election).
“If God that gave me victory cannot defend me, I
better go home. If the people cannot defend the
mandate they gave to me, I better go home.
Power doesn’t come from man. Power belongs
to God. Anyone against the voice of God is
following Satan’s way.
“In a democracy, you need a simple majority to
win elections, but I enjoy total majority. They
want to take government by force, firing shots at
people; that is coup against the people. They said
they are coming again tomorrow, we are waiting
for them.”
But the APC lawmakers advised Fayose to stop
inciting the people, saying his Sunday broadcast
had demonstrated that he was not committed to
genuine reconciliation.
The APC lawmakers in a statement on Sunday
accused the governor of inciting the people
against them in the broadcast.
A statement by the Special Adviser on Media to
Speaker Adewale Omirin, Wole Olujobi, said the
governor in his broadcast demonstrated that he
was never committed to the peace he preached
barely 24 hours before his inciting broadcast.
“How do you reconcile this inciting broadcast
with a plea he made for peace not quite 24 hours
earlier, which Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians
thought was a good move by the governor to
thaw the frozen relationship between him and the
lawmakers?
“This is a confirmation of what Dr. Omirin said in
his Sunday Punch interview that the governor
can’t be trusted in any peace move.
“It is shocking that the governor, who refused to
make any remark or commitment during the
church service after the man of God appealed to
him to embrace peace, could go on air few
minutes after the church service to start inciting
workers, traders, okada riders and artisans to
defend him with their last drop of blood.
“As if his inciting live broadcast was not enough,
Ekiti people were shocked when a public service
announcement started running intermittently on
the state media urging okada riders to look out
for strange faces across the state and attack them
because they are thugs that are being imported
into the state by the APC lawmakers.
“They are also to converge on the House of
Assembly as early as 6am on Monday to prevent
the lawmakers from performing their legal
duties,” the statement added.
Stressing that they were not planning any
invasion
of the state with thugs, the lawmakers called the
attention of Nigerians to the unlawful acts of the
governor in his desperate move to ensure that
the
lawmakers were rendered ineffective in the
discharge of their lawful duties.
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