Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I didn’t insult Fayose – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday denied exchanging hot words with a former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, at the thanksgiving reception organised by the sacked former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in his Okuku hometown, Oyo State, because he (Obasanjo) could not condenscend to the level of the former Ekiti governor.


Fayose, impeached as governor in 2006 in controversial circumstances during the second term tenure of the Obasanjo’s eight-year regime, was reported to have launched a verbal attack on Obasanjo at the Okuku event but the former president told our correspondent on Monday that he did not respond to Fayose’s diatribe.


Obasanjo, who spoke on the telephone through his Consultant on Media, Mr. Adeoba Ojekunle, wondered why he would exchange hot words with “someone that I could be his father.” He said Fayose’s “aggression was misplaced.”


The former President insisted that there was no exchange of hot words between him and the ex-governor as he claimed that Fayose left shortly after the encounter which was said to have almost ended the ceremony.


Ojekunle explained, “He (Fayose) came into the inner room of Oyinlola’s house, where Baba (Obasanjo) was with the rest of the visitors. Fayose was not around during the thanksgiving service; he came after the service. He greeted everyone in the inner room except Baba. So, the other people asked him why he would not greet Baba. That was what sparked off his anger as he started raining abuses on Baba. But if you know Baba very well, he would not say a word; and he didn’t say anything,” said the consultant as Obasanjo tried to find out from the background who was seeking clarifications on the Okuku encounter.


“You can ask me, was it Baba that was behind his trouble? Was he the EFCC that is trying him for corruption? Baba was not even there (in office) when he was arraigned for corrupt charges. So, he should go to his state and sort out his troubles.”


He claimed that Fayose could not continue his visit (to Oyinlola) after the verbal assault as he “hurriedly left the place because other dignitaries took exception to his conduct.”


Since Fayose was impeached four years ago, there had been no love lost between him and the former president. He had publicly blamed Obasanjo for his impeachment and subsequent trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The Okuku episode on Sunday apparently provided Fayose the opportunity to confront the former president.


Meanwhile, the Nigerian Farmers and Hunters Union, popularly known as the Agbekoya, on Monday issued a statement asking Fayose to apologise to Obasanjo for his conduct which the union said amounted to disrespecting an elder.


In the statement signed by the media consultant to the NFHU, Mr. Olatunji Bandele, the Agbekoya, reputed to have fought a fierce war of liberation against the defunct Western Region Government in the first republic, said Obasanjo “by all standards can have Fayose as a son and as such there can not be comparison between their ages and status in Nigeria.”


The association of farmers apologised to the former president for Fayose’s conduct but insisited that the former Ekiti State Governor, whom it said “must have misunderstood some issues,” must publicly apologise to Obasanjo.


Also, a former minister of Aviation under the Obasanjo administration, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Monday faulted Fayose’s attack on the former president.


“There comes a time when you have to look at the person that is insulting you and you opt not to bother to respond because there are certain types of people that you just can not reason with. What we do not need is for anyone to unleash an unprofitable assault on such a great achiever (Obasanjo),” he said.

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