TheCable

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, says Nigerians are suffering because “the country is in the hands of wrong managers”.

Accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government of running the economy aground, Fayose alleged that Nigeria is currently witnessing the worst form of nepotism in its history.

He alleged that rather than work with competent individuals who can tackle the country’s challenges, President Muhammadu Buhari has “opted for his relatives, friends, in-laws and very close associates”.

“Nigerians are suffering, hungry and angry because the APC federal government has run the country aground,” Fayose said in a statement by Lere Olayinka, his special assistant on public communications and new media.

“Nigeria has gone beyond recession, the economy has collapsed completely and painfully, those who should revive the economy do not have any clue as to what to do. The country is in the hands of wrong managers who do not know what to do and out of nepotism, not ready to be assisted by those who know.

“Nepotism is the reason our president discarded competent people in his party that should be running the government with him. The only qualification to hold key positions in the presidency is to know a certain nephew of the president or be a member of his family, that’s nepotism and what nepotism breeds is incompetence.

“The most influential person in the presidency today is said to be one Mamman Daura, who is a nephew of the president. Personal assistant to President Buhari is said to be the son of Mamman Daura while the state chief of protocol is said to be married to Mamman Daura’s daughter.

“It is also the height of nepotism that apart from just two, all security chiefs and heads of all the paramilitary agencies in Nigeria, as well as all the political-heads overseeing all the military and paramilitary arms and agencies are from the north of Nigeria.”

He said Buhari is being “tormented by fear of the unknown”, which he described as the main reason people take to nepotism.

Fayose said some of the people who supported the president during the election are regretting their actions because “political affiliation has nothing to do with hunger, poverty and lack”.

“As a leader, you don’t need to fear anything. But the moment a leader peeps into the future, realising that his lack of capacity could have consequential effects on him, such a leader will definitely resort to nepotism to protect himself,” he said.

“Exchange rate was less than N200 to $1 when President Buhari took over power, as at today, it has gone beyond N400 to $1 and naira is still undergoing a free fall. One bag of rice was less than N8, 000 as at May 2016, it is now N20, 000. Kerosene is now beyond the reach of the masses.

“Nigerians voted for change because the APC promised them solutions to the country’s problems, but all we hear every day from the APC federal government are complaints upon complaints as if Nigerians elected a government of complaints.

“Obviously, the APC government has failed Nigerians and the president has resorted to putting his immediate family members and close associates in key government positions to protect himself from the fear of the unknown that has enveloped him.”