Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (ret.) Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has explained why the president did not remove the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, from office when he had the power and chance to do so.
The revelation was revealed by Adesina in a piece he penned in honor of Buhari’s upcoming 80th birthday on December 17. (tomorrow).
According to the president’s special adviser, Buhari did not succeed in having Fayose removed from office through the Ekiti State House of Assembly, which at the time was mostly controlled by members of the All Progressives Congress, because he had “no malevolent bone in his body.”
Adesina remembered how Fayose had attacked Buhari in the run-up to the 2014 elections and claimed that the president, if elected at the time, would not survive his term in office in the essay headed “Buhari at 80: No Malicious Bone In His Body.”
When he took office, he claimed, Buhari had the option of retaliating and ordering the Inspector General of Police to close down the Ekiti State Assembly, but he chose peace.
He also recalled that during a Council of State meeting at the Presidential Villa, Buhari extended a friendly handshake to Fayose rather than using force.
Adesina wrote,
“How about Ayo Fayose, the Irunmole that eats Jollof rice. The former Ekiti State Governor had taken a stand against Buhari since 2014, during the campaigns. There was that infamous advertisement he placed in newspapers, displaying a coffin, and insinuating that if Buhari was elected, he would not last the distance.
“Fayose’s party was beaten black and blue, and entered President Buhari. What would an average, vengeful person have done, if he were in the mould of the man with the teacup and saucer?
“When Buhari came, the Ekiti House of Assembly was largely populated by APC members, whom Fayose had inherited. What to do? Just give a directive: remove that Governor within a week, and he directs the Inspector General of Police to lock down the Assembly chamber. But not Buhari. Why? Because he has no malicious bone in his body.”
