Fayose: When Obasanjo talks, I just shake my head

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has reignited his long-running feud with Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of the country.

Obasanjo and Fayose were an item for the first few years of the fourth republic, when the former return to power after years of incarceration.

However, since Fayose’s impeachment in 2006, for which he blames Obasanjo, there has been no love lost between the two men.

Asked by Punch Newspaper if he was willing to make up with Obasanjo, Fayose gave a nonchalant answer, blaming his former mentor for many of the country’s current problems and even describing him as a “laughing stock”.

“That is if he is ready to make up with me,” he said.

“I’m not ready to take issues with Obasanjo because if you are talking about corruption today, Obasanjo is the cause. (What about) the N50m Obasanjo (allegedly) gave each lawmaker for his failed third term agenda?

“I was an Obasanjo boy. Obasanjo can’t be celebrated as a saint in Nigeria. When he talks, I just shake my head. Sometimes, when he goes to the [presidential] Villa, I wonder if he has shame at all. When he was [the president], Buhari was not visiting him regularly. Obasanjo is behaving like somebody who wants to cover [up] something at all cost.

“I want a former president that will know this nation does not belong to one man. Most of the problems in this country were caused by Obasanjo. The impeachment of a governor by four lawmakers was done during Obasanjo’s tenure as a president. Tell me where the moral is.

“We should not deceive ourselves. The fact that he is supporting the government of the day tactically is to protect himself. Sometimes, I ask if he is looking for a political appointment. Have you seen Ernest Shonekan and other former presidents visit Buhari like he does? He is becoming a laughing stock. That is the way I see it.”

Conversely, Fayose was effusive in his praise for Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All progressives Congress (APC), even though they belong to rival political parties.

Not only did he describe Tinubu as a foremost leader of the Yoruba, he vowed to “rise up” against anyone who attempts to take away the honour and dignity of the former Lagos state governor.

“The greatest thing a man can offer his leader is loyalty except if the leader is wicked. Most of the people Asiwaju Tinubu and I brought up betrayed us. They are only bringing curses upon their lives…” he said.

“There is a Yoruba proverb that says, ‘It is the calabash that will show you where to tie the rope on its body’. A Judas is a Judas. If a family is peaceful, it is because the bastard in that house has not grown to the age of maturity. The day he attains maturity, he will brew troubles in the family and eventually scatter it.

“I don’t want to start mentioning names or attacking individuals. But it must be noted that conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it. If there is anybody that Asiwaju has brought up and made, and they want to turn around and pull him down, they too will pay dearly for it. They know themselves. Judas knew himself.

“This is not the beginning; they have been doing it before now. The thing is just coming into the open. A betrayer will always be a betrayer. I’m not an APC man and I’m not holding brief for Asiwaju Tinubu. But, I believe in the Yoruba nation and I believe in our leaders. As much as I believe in Asiwaju, I believe in our PDP leaders too. Don’t forget, even in the north there are leaders that when they were being maltreated I condemned it. I don’t hide because the truth is what I stand to represent.

“And anything that will take away the honour and dignity of our leader like Asiwaju Tinubu, we will rise up against it and expose those behind it. It is common in Yoruba land for people who are supposed to watch your back to collude with external aggressors and destroy their leaders to take such [leadership] positions. It will never work.”