The Ekiti State Governor, Chief Ayodele Fayose, has said
nobody can blackmail him over his criticism of the Federal Government’s
handling of the agitation by Nnamdi Kanu and his followers in the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB).
He also stated that he will continue to speak out against
injustice meted out to anybody or group in any part of the country.
He said this on Sunday evening while featuring on a
radio/television programme in Ado-Ekiti.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu
Adelusi, on Monday, the governor said leaders of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in the state who accused him of sponsoring IPOB were not only
mischievous, but only embarked on cheap blackmail that failed woefully to
achieve any result.
“We cannot all be cowed. The militarization of Nigeria,
being witnessed now can only be likened to 1984 when General Muhammadu Buhari
was military Head of State.
“Killing people in the Southeast just because some people
are agitating is wrong and I wonder why none of our so called human rights
activists is talking.
“Herdsmen have sacked a whole community in this country, has
anyone been arrested for all the killings by herdsmen?
“If because I am speaking against the wanton killings being
done by the military in the Southeast, the APC is saying that I’m funding IPOB,
was I the one funding the people of Southern Kaduna when I condemned the
killings there? Was I funding the Agatus in Benue State when I condemned their
killings by Fulani herdsmen?
“Was I funding the Shiite Muslims when I condemned the
killings of El-Zakzaky followers in Zaria?, he asked.
On recent feat by the state in the education sector where it
came first again in the National Examinations Council (NECO) exams, Fayose
noted that the state’s investment and commitment in the sector were paying off.
He opined that education was different from infrastructural
development, and that whoever fails to invest in children’s education would end
up wasting his life.
“In 2003 when I came the first time, I met education in a
state of a shamble. We were number 35 in WAEC then and I strove to improve the
situation before I was removed from office.
“If you don’t put teachers in the driver’s seat in
education, the end result will be failure. We have accorded teachers their
deserved respect and we do not meddle in their affairs. It is not our business
who becomes NUT chairman.
“Every year, we celebrate Teachers’ Day with fanfare and
reward best teachers with new cars. We have not come here to play politics with
the education of our children and I want to assure that next year too, we will
come first.
“My deputy that I have adopted as my successor is the one in
charge of education and he has done well. I congratulate all of us in Ekiti,
especially the teachers, for this feat and by the grace of God, we will sustain
it,” he assured.
On the ongoing capital projects in the state, the governor
said they would all be complete before he leaves office, adding that some would
be inaugurated next month during the third anniversary of the administration.
By Emmanuel Ani
