Ado-Ekiti—Governor Ayodele Fayose
of Ekiti Statehas said the alleged plot by the Federal Government to prevent
him from travelling abroad was inherently unconstitutional and dictatorial.
Miffed at the development, Fayose
said; “Under the federal system of government, state governors are not
appendages of the President and as a leading opposition figure in Nigeria, he
cannot be cowed by President Muhammadu Buhari and his agents.” Governor Fayose,
who spoke through his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media,
Mr Lere Olayinka was apparently reacting to reports that two governors, one
from the South-west and another from the South South have been placed on travel
restriction on President Buhari’s order, saying whenever he wished to travel
out of Nigeria, he will do so in the full glare of the public.
According to Fayose, “I am not
surprised or disappointed by this latest plot of the Buhari’s government
because the President Buhari that we know is a man without any atom of respect
for the rights of Nigerians and this he demonstrated as a military dictator and
now demonstrating as an elected president.”
The governor said he was however amazed that;
“This dangerous dimension of compelling a sitting governor that enjoys
constitutional immunity like the President to obtain clearance from the
Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) before travelling out
of Nigeria can ever be contemplated.” He said President Buhari should know that
under a federal system of government, the states and national government both
enjoy some autonomy.