It’s my personal opinion, not a death wish for Buhari

By Leke Adeseri, South West Regional Editor & Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—A coalition of 60 Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, in Nigeria, yesterday, berated Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State for sponsoring an advertisement they said suggested that the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Major-General Muhammad Buhari (retd), will die in office if elected next month.

The group, under the aegis of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room , in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, maintained that Governor Fayose’s advertisement was in “extreme bad taste,” saying it fell within the category of hate speech prohibited under the Electoral Act and other known international laws that forbade the publication of hate speech.

It noted that the said advert was published on the front page of select newspapers on Monday January 19, with the banner headline, “Nigerians Be Warned.”

Buhari: Our situation must change!

According to the group; “The advertisement negates the Abuja Accord recently signed by the presidential candidates and leaders of political parties for the elections.”

Consequently, it urged politicians to be cautious in their campaign and conduct ahead of the February polls so as to allow peace to reign in the country.

It’s my personal opinion, not a death wish for Buhari – Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, has reacted to comments that trailed the advertorial he caused to be published on Monday, saying it was his personal opinion as a citizen of this country and not opinion of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and that he stood by it.

He also said he had no apology over the publication as it contained facts.

Fayose, who stated this through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, said the truth could never be covered indefinitely, insisting that the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, was too old and sick to be president of the country.

The governor asserted: “ I wish to refer to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua who former President Olusegun Obasanjo claimed was hale and hearty to lead this country and subsequently took ill and died.

“I must assure all those who have expressed genuine concerns, unlike the APC that is playing cheap politics over the issue -that my intention is not a death wish to General Buhari but a factual position that APC is covering.

“My consideration for the advertorial in the midst of alleged ill-health of the late president is the need for the nation not to forget the crisis we were thrown into in 2010 but saved by the National Assembly which had to invoked the Doctrine of Necessity after protests by the Save Nigeria Group, SNG.

“It is in defence of fairness that I called attention to the potential crisis we may face, God forbid that the health of the general becomes a hindrance if he was president and his Vice who is from the South West would have to step into the saddle not too long after Obasanjo’s eight years in office.

“ I wish to draw attention to the lead story in a national newspaper ( not Vanguard) of January 18, 2015, entitled, “Buhari’s planned visit to US causes furore.

“The story revealed that arrangement had been concluded to fly Buhari to US for a medical check up. That Buhari has been stressed from effects of the rigours of presidential campaigns across the country and he is definitely in need of medical attention, adding that age was a factor as rigours of the campaign was getting at him”.

Fayose, therefore, advised Buhari to be sincere with himself and step down for a younger and more vibrant person..again,I say it that Buhari is too old and spent to lead Nigeria.

The governor added; “The health of all of us who have stepped into the leadership space is nothing personal to us any more as it has implications on the polity.”

Fayose said he was certain that time will vindicate him, calling on all Nigerians to vote en-mass for the vibrant and energetic President Jonathan to avoid a repeat of history