Ekiti Rejects Kalu’s Peace Advocacy Visit

By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

As a former governor of Abia State, Mr. Orji Kalu, plans to visit Ekiti State to curry support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019, the Ekiti State Government has rejected the visit by telling the former governor to “take his advocacy for peace to other parts of the country where the security of lives and properties of Nigerians is under threat, not Ekiti State that even the police adjudged as the most peaceful state in the country”.

Kalu, who is acting as the Chairman, Advisory Board for the National Movement for Re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari, has embarked on a tour of the South-west states purportedly to advocate peace, fairness and unity of the country with a view to rallying support for the president’s second term bid in 2019.

However, the Ekiti State Government, in a statement issued on Saturday by the Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said: “There is no threat to peace and unity of Nigeria from Ekiti State for anyone, including Orji Kalu to address. Therefore, he should not expect to be welcomed to any palace in Ekiti State.”

The government urged traditional rulers in the state to ignore the former Abia State governor, saying: “It is an insult on the collective sensibilities of Ekiti people, whose only benefit from the government of President Buhari is hardship occasioned by the government’s cluelessness for anyone to hide under advocacy for peace to canvass support for the president.”

The state government said it was unspeakable that because of Kalu’s case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he has saddled himself with the task of embarking on image laundering for a president whose government is inflicting sufferings on Nigerians.

According to the statement, “If he has sold his own conscience to the agenda of selling an already rejected product to Nigerians, we in Ekiti State have not, and we are telling him categorically that such advocacy is not welcome in our state.

“He should rather take his peace and unity advocacy to his own state, where he is already rejected and other states where Nigerians are being killed on daily basis by bandits.

“It is also ridiculous that instead of joining Nigerians to tell the president the truth about the state of affairs in the country, Kalu is castigating Nigerians that have summoned courage to speak out against the president through letters and public comments.”

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