Fayose doesn’t speak for Ekiti people, says group

A socio-political group in Ekiti State, The E-Eleven,
on Wednesday, dissociated the people of the state
from an advert sponsored by the state governor,
Mr. Ayodele Fayose, insinuating that the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),
might die in office if elected.
In the controversial advert, Fayose had said the
North should wait till 2019 for the slot of the
presidency.
However, the Chairman of the group, Mr. Femi
Ajiniran, said in a statement that the Ekiti people
were not in any way against the North; neither
were they against any geo-political zone in the
country.
“We believe firmly in the principle of equality as
espoused in the 1999 Constitution. The view
expressed in the advert was Fayose’s personal
opinion,” it said.
It noted that Fayose’s statement violated the non-
violence clause of the Electoral Act, 2011 and
breached the peace agreement facilitated by a
former Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Mr. Kofi Annan and a former Secretary-General of
Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku last week.
It said, “After the landmark peace agreement
brokered to achieve a peaceful conduct of the 2015
general elections, Fayose sponsored this advert of
acrimony and discrimination from the purse of Ekiti
State in the two national dailies. We, therefore,
dissociate the people of Ekiti State from this
advert.”
The group asked Nigerians to hold Fayose and his
political party responsible if the advert eventually
stokes anger in some parts of the country.