Garba Shehu: Fayose is finally down — after all the noise and drama

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, says Ayodele Fayose, governor of the state, is down at the moment.

He said this while commenting on the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Ekiti governorship poll.

Kayode Fayemi, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Kolapo Olusola, his PDP counterpart.

In a statement on Sunday, Shehu said Buhari’s uprightness and integrity stood the test of time while the opposition “continued to rant”.

He said win at the election is a boost to the APC and its new leadership under Adams Oshiomhole.

“In what observers said was the most intense, and a most angry campaign, the people gave their verdict: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the one-time governor, declared persona-non-grata is now persona-grata again,” Shehu said.

“President Buhari has won this referendum. The people of the d\state have sent a clear message. The politics of brinksmanship, assaults, insults, abuses and Robin Hoodism disguised as stomach infrastructure has been rejected in favour of politics of inclusion, development, responsibility and good governance.

“As for Mr. Fayose and his morbid brand of politics, it is now his time to reconcile himself to the imminent political extinction he faces, his political career sealed for good. Newspapers have mistaken him for a gadfly who creates discomfort for the government at the centre to make it better, but Fayose is a street-type thug. He never fits the role of a gadfly because he thrives on bitter enmity. Opposition does not mean a negative view of everything. Neither does it translate into a licence to abuse your superiors.

“An old proverb says you can’t beat something with nothing. After all the noise, theatricals and drama, Fayose’s fall came with a thud, not a bang. A high-powered nothing.”

Shehu described the victory of APC as a boost to the fight against corruption, saying it has also shown that PDP has nothing new to offer.

“President Buhari’s war against corruption and insecurity; the message of agric revolution and infrastructure development and fidelity in resource allocation and management have struck a chord with Ekiti voters, who had been lied to and deceived by governor Fayose,” he said.

“While the opposition continued to rant at him, President Buhari’s uprightness, coupled with incorruptibility and personal integrity, unmatched by any politician in the country has again stood the test of time.

“The APC win in Ekiti means that the Party has control over 25 out of the 36 states of the Federation. The party thus becomes the only one in power in the six states of the South-West geopolitical zone.

“Besides reinforcing the APC’s position as the only standing pole in the political landscape, it is a credit to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, against whom all manner of ethnic and religious opposition is being mounted by former President Obasanjo and some of the Asiwaju’s sworn enemies in the sub-region.

“APC’s regional strength has been strengthened and the Asiwaju will be respected even better. Without losing patience and decorum, the Asiwaju has proved that rivals must reconcile and come to terms or lose everything.”