TheCable

Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti, has urged Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, Zamfara governor, to return home and stand in defense of the people of his state.

The ex-governor said Yari should not be abroad when there is a spate of killings by armed bandits and high level of insecurity in Zamfara.

Fayose, south-west coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign council, released a statement on the matter on Tuesday.

“I’m aware that the governor is abroad and I advise that he should return home,” he said.

“This is the time for him to be a man and stand in defense of his people rather than standing with their oppressors.”

Fayose also accused the federal government of plotting to hide under the killings to impose emergency rule on the state.

He said the alleged plot was in response to the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field candidates for the 2019 elections in Zamfara.

The ex-governor accused the government of orchestrating a “selfish, partisan agenda”.

“With the emergency rule, there will only be presidential and national ssembly elections in the state in February next year while governorship and state house of assembly elections will be postponed till May,” he said.

“The federal government should admit its failure and apologise to the people of Zamfara state, who were left at the mercy of armed bandits as using the killings to achieve political goal is not only wicked but inhuman.”

Fayose said the federal government must be reminded that “under the PDP government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, emergency rule was declared in three states in the north-east without dismantling democratic institutions”.