Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has described the celebration by the federal government over the release of 21 Chibok girls by the Boko Haram group as a tactic employed by the government to divert the attention of Nigerians away from the hunger in the country.
Fayose made the claim in Iyin-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun local government area of Ekiti state on Thursday, October 13 during the inaugurating a block of four classrooms built for the Erelu Angela Adebayo Children’s Home. The governor, according to Vanguard, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the massive hunger that is killing many people in the country.
“What they came out today to tell Nigerians that 21 abducted Chibok girls have been released by the Boko Haram group is diversionary. Nigerians have never had it so bad. People are very hungry. What they did today is just to divert attention from what they did last week by clamping judges and justices into detention. While no one is saying corruption should be condoned, but the due process must be followed,” he said.
Fayose said the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal government which was labeled as inept by the opposition did better than the current administration.
“The exchange rate of the naira to the dollar is unacceptable. The situation has led to hyper-inflation where what people used to buy for N30,000 can not be bought with N100,000?. Look at the elections that have been conducted since they came to office, all the gains recorded by the previous government as far as democracy is concerned are being eroded,” he said.
“Food security is number one, they should stop fooling us; our economy must be urgently addressed because Nigerians voted for the government in power so that they can enjoy better lives. There is hunger everywhere, many husbands had turned to wives in their families. Nigeria is hard to live in and we pray that God will change this change for us.”
“It is not good for a government to be catching thieves and kidnappers everyday while its citizens are hungry. Everybody is now a thief in Nigeria, we need prayer in Nigeria and we need divine intervention,” he added.
Fayose said Nigerians are suffering under the APC government, alleging that the current administration had taken away the rights of Nigerians. He accused the Buhari administration of using the report of Chibok girls’ release to cover up the undue arrest of judges. He said what Nigerians need is food on the table because propaganda does not amount to food on the table for the citizens.
Meanwhile, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state on Thursday, October 13, hailed the release of 21 Chibok school girls by the Boko Haram insurgents. According to him, the release of the girls has shown President Muhammadu Buhari’s sincerity in ending the Boko Haram insurgency, NAN reports.
In a statement signed by Malam Isa Gusau, the governor’s special adviser on communication in Maiduguri, Shettima said that the release of the 21 Chibok girls has eliminated the doubts in President Buhari.