I criticise Buhari as most senior governor in Nigeria — Fayose

Lagos—Describing himself as the most senior governor in Nigeria, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State yesterday said his attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari flowed from his sense of responsibility and not related to any 2019 presidential aspiration as alleged by critics. Fayose Speaking at an interactive forum in Lagos, Fayose said tying him with Senator Ali Sheriff, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the 2019 presidential ticket was an attempt to discredit him, even as he urged those canvassing for a second term for Buhari to have a rethink. He said by 2019, the president, who he claimed is presently bogged down by age would have become too old to govern. The governor at the interactive session also called on President Buhari to urgently devalue the naira to lessen the pains on Nigerians. In dismissing assertions of a 2019 presidential aspiration, he said: “Anybody flying the kite of Sheriff and Fayose is the deceit of the highest order. Again, even if it is the Senate, I am not going to contest. Nobody contests the office of the Vice President you can only become the Vice President of Nigeria if God wants you to be. May I make it expressly clear that if Ali Modu Sheriff wants to contest as president of Nigeria in 2019, I will not support him, I am a man known for my words of honour. We must operate based on principle if our country is to move forward.” Besides, he faulted the move, saying “This is cheap blackmail orchestrated to give people the impression that I have ambition that is why I am doing all these. I am the most senior governor in Nigeria and if I were to be in a party like the APC, they will be celebrating me everyday. They (APC) know I am critical of the bad policies of the APC administration.” Frowning at efforts to project President Buhari for a second term in 2019, he said: “those ppromoting Buhari for 2019 should stop. I have told Nigerians that Buhari does not have the capacity now to govern Nigeria. What capacity will he display in seven years time?  Currently as it stands, the President is challenged by age.”