Fayose Questions Buhari’s Absence at State Functions

• Alleges surrogates governing on his behalf

Victor Ogunje in Ado-Ekiti

 Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has questioned President Muhammadu Buhari’s persistent absence from state functions, especially the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings, demanding to know if the president is now governing the country by proxy.

In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka, Fayose, who is known to be a rabid critic of the administration, said yesterday that Nigerians are regaled everyday with directives from the president without seeing him at any function.

“Everyday, what we hear is president said this, president said that without seeing the president in any official function and one is prompted to ask: where is the president?”

Fayose said it was becoming obvious that a cabal is exercising the powers of the president.

“I saw the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal on television responding to his suspension and what came to my mind was that there could actually be many presidents operating in the Buhari presidency.

“Perhaps, it is for this reason of the possible existence of governments within the government of the Buhari administration that confusion pervades the polity, with the president himself writing a letter to the Senate to clear someone of wrongdoing and the same person being suspended three months after on the basis of the same allegation.

“It is also for this reason that the president nominated Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as EFCC chairman and the Department of State Services (DSS), an agency under the presidency wrote the Senate not to confirm him.

“Most importantly, the president did not attend the FEC meeting last week and the meeting did not hold this week under the flimsy excuse that Easter break stalled it.

“How could the Easter break which ended on Monday be responsible for the inability to hold the FEC meeting on Wednesday? Definitely, there is more to this than meets the eye.

“It has therefore become necessary that Nigerians hear the voice of their president and see him physically, not through surrogates or the cabal operating behind the scene,” the governor said.

Speaking further, the Ekiti state governor, who described the president as the face and image of a nation, urged Buhari to hold regular media chats through which Nigerians can ask questions and offer suggestions on the country.

“Since his first and only media chat was held in December 2015, Nigerians have not had the opportunity to see their president address them directly and this is not the best approach to governance in a democracy,” he said.

Since the president returned from his medical vacation last month, he has not left the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and has delegated several officials to represent him at several functions.

His absence at the FEC meeting last week and its postponement on Wednesday once again fuelled speculations about his health.

The president was last seen at the mosque in the Presidential Villa last Friday, where he attended the Jumat service.