State of emergency won’t work in Rivers, Ekiti Says, Fayose

THE Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose today said that declaring State of Emergency won’t work in Rivers and Ekiti state. He reacted to speculations of federal government’s contemplation to impose state of emergency on the two states while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Fayose was in Abuja to attend the National Economic Council (NEC) retreat on the economy in the State House.

According to him, he has been waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to declare state of emergency in Ekiti.

Stressing that power has gone back to the people; he urged leaders to beware of the actions they take in office as they may hunt them in the future.

On the question concerning possible declaration of state of emergency in Rivers, he said: “They have been insinuating that too in Ekiti. We have been waiting for them. Power has gone beyond the leaders; power has gone back to the people.

“There are certain things leaders will do today, you will eat it tomorrow.

“You want to declare state of emergency, declare it and we will tell you that the state of emergency will not work too. This country belongs to all of us.” He added

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had also over the weekend alleged that some people were creating problems in his state to make the federal government to impose a state of emergency in the state.

Wike had said that such ploy would not work because the PDP was more popular in the state.

The Department of State Security (DSS) recently raided the Ekiti State House of Assembly where they were reported to have arrested eight lawmakers while one of the lawmakers is being detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Fayose condemned the weekend’s National Assembly and State House of Assembly re-elections especially because of what he said was their militarization.

He described the situation in Rivers as a service of ego of some individuals who believed they have control on the federal government.

He said: “I want to condemn the election in Rivers State. I want to condemn the militarization.

“Like I said to some people yesterday, if say Ekiti election nobody was slapped, nobody died, the person defeated congratulated the winner; do we now call this Rivers election Rivers of Bloodgate?

“Because for a peaceful election in Ekiti and this in Rivers, the military has got no business in our election.

“Now, I want to say that if you watch the trend, PDP has always won all the elections after the annulment. Which means what happened in Rivers is just a service of ego of some individuals who believed they have Nigeria in their pockets, they can call the president at will to deploy the military and it’s unfortunate that somebody would allow the military to kill his own people.

“I strongly condemn the elections in Rivers and charge that we sustain the legacy of transparent elections.

“For me in Ekiti, we learned from that and we are prepared. We prepare for election everyday and we are fully prepared.”

On the Ekiti lawmaker detained by the EFCC, the governor said that the anti-graft body was trampling on the rights of citizens.

“And for the people detained in EFCC, it shows the rascality of the agency of government to the federal government to look away and allow innocent Nigerians’ rights to be taken away. I condemn it,” he stated.

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