Fayose In Aso Villa For NEC Meeting In Buhari’s Absence

MICHAEL AKINOLA

Controversial Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has joined his other governor colleagues inside the council chambers of the presidential villa in Abuja to attend the National Economic Council meeting chaired by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

Fayose, a staunch critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, came to the villa for the meeting at a time the President is in the United States for the ongoing 71stUnited Nations General Assembly.

Fayose has attended just few of the economic meetings hosted at the presidential villa. His last attendance was in March at a two-day economic retreat held at the villa when he stormed out of the Old Banquet hall, venue of the meeting, midway into the programme.

Speaking with journalists shortly after, Fayose dared Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Rivers — where there were incidents of violence ahead of the legislative rerun election — and in Ekiti.

He later issued a statement, in which he described the economic retreat as a jamboree.

“I was at the retreat and I can tell Nigerians categorically that it was just a jamboree. It was a waste of over N250m public fund because most of the resource persons were the same people who ran their states aground,” he had said.

“Instead of wasting over N250 million on such a jamboree, it would have been better if the fund was given to those downtrodden Nigerians, who are trading with as little as N5,000.

“For instance, at N10,000 each, N250 million will go round 25,000 pepper sellers whose capital is not more than N5,000 and that would go a long way in boosting their trade.”

Fayose has been Buhari’s most vocal victory, dating back the buildup to the 2015 presidential election.

Some of the governors in attendance at the Thursday NEC meeting include Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo).

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