- Fayose slams Oyegun, others for criticising him
Damilola Oyedele in Abuja and Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
The Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has described the action of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State for cautioning China against granting a $2 billion loan to Nigeria, as attempted economic sabotage and subversion.
Gbajabiamila, in a letter dated April 18, 2016 addressed to President Xi Jingping of China, urged a complete disregard of the letter written by Fayose, whose duties, he noted, do not extend to foreign affairs or economic diplomacy.
“Fayose is a governor who overreaches himself and can be described as a meddlesome interloper,” the majority leader said, adding that the governor’s actions should be excused as vituperations and exuberance.
“Nigeria’s principle of the separation of powers between the federal, state and local government, have made Fayose’s action a clear affront on the constitution, by delving into matters outside his state, particularly as it concerns international agreements between two sovereign nations,” he added.
“Indeed the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution contains the oath of office sworn to by the governor of a state on assumption of office and it states:“……..that I will exercise the authority vested in me as governor so as not to impede or prejudice the authority lawfully vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the letter read.
Gbajabiamila added that for Fayose to refer to a $2 billion loan as a $6 billion investment package shows that he is not fully aware of the transaction between Nigerian and China.
Meanwhile, Fayose has advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun; his Deputy, Segun Oni, and others who criticised him over his opposition to the alleged borrowing of $2 billion loan by the federal government to stop displaying hypocrisy in the interest of the nation.
Fayose said his reaction to the attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow the money was done out of national interest and not because of his personal animosity against the president, adding that what the APC did against him was tantamount to hypocrisy.
He described President Buhari’s non-signing of any direct loan agreement with the Chinese Government during his visit as a vindication of the governor’s position, maintaining that: “What Nigeria needs is the collaboration of the government of China in the area of technology transfer, rather than granting loan that will be mismanaged under the guise of building infrastructure.”
In a statement issued yesterday in Ado Ekiti by his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said: “People like
Oyegun, Oni and Prof Itse Sagay lack moral rights to complain even if Buhari is called whatever names because they never complained when as a sitting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was called unprintable names by APC stalwarts and leaders.”
The governor said he only exercised his rights as a Nigerian, asking: “Where were the likes of Oyegun, Oni, Sagay and others when APC promoted crude politics and anti-Nigeria posturing to an unprecedented level when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power?
“It is on record that APC wrote to the United States of America not to sell arms to Nigeria, reported the country to the European Union, United Nations and went to the bizarre extent of reporting the then Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), not for committing the kind of genocide committed against the Shiite Muslims in Zaria and Agatus in Benue State, but for killing Boko Haram insurgents.
“On one occasion, a certain APC stalwart insinuated that Jonathan’s visit to Chad was to plan further attacks on the North, tweeting that ‘Boko Haram: Jonathan visits Chadian President Idris Deby for the second time in two months, to plan further attacks.’
“It is also on record that instead of lending his voice to the federal government efforts to dislodge Boko Haram insurgents, President Buhari opted to describe the clampdown on Boko Haram as injustice against the North. He went on to accuse the government of killing and destroying the insurgents’ houses while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government.
“Even when Oni was Ekiti State governor as a PDP member, Action Congress (AC) as APC then wrote against his government move to obtain a N5 billion loan. Isn’t it then funny that because he is now in APC, the same Oni is now against Fayose doing the same thing done against him by the APC elements in Ekiti State?
“Isn’t it also funny that in Oyegun, Oni, Sagay among others political dictionaries of hypocrisy that it was right for APC stalwart to have reported the federal government to ICC but wrong for Fayose to have written to the Chinese government on the federal government’s plan to mortgage the future of Nigeria and its people?”
The governor’s spokesperson said since the federal government claimed it has recovered and still recovering trillions of naira allegedly looted from the treasury, there was no need to borrow money from anywhere to finance the 2016 Budget.“With the $200 billion they claimed is coming from Dubai, $700 million cash they said was found in Diezani Alison Madueke’s house, N3 trillion said to have been saved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and N4.5 trillion the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it will generate this year, what then is the rationale behind the federal government seeking any loan?
