A former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has on Friday vocally expressed his approval of the coup that happened in Gabon earlier this week.
FTN reports that soldiers had appeared on Gabonese national television on Wednesday, announcing the cancellation of election results said to have been won by Ondimba Ali Bongo and the dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic.”
The announcement came shortly after President Ali Bongo, 64, was re-elected for a third term, extending his family’s half-century rule over the oil-rich Central African country of 2.3 million. Still, the opposition described the poll as a ‘fraud orchestrated’ by the ruling party.
The Bongo family, one of Africa’s most powerful dynasties, has been in power since 1967.
While speaking on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, Fayose said he does not endorse military intervention in politics, adding that the recent surge of coups in Africa is a mark of the sit-tight syndrome.
He said, “I am very happy with what happened in Gabon. I don’t like military incursions in politics but I want to say to you that Nigeria is different, we have a reasonably stabilised democracy.
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“We have our flaws but you can see the uninterrupted democratic process. After four years there will be an election… Nigeria has gone from one party to another party.
“One person to another person within a space of time. But in a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years. You have to boot him out of the place in whatever way.
“That’s different from the Nigerian setting. Nigeria has submitted but we are not there yet in the final order.”
Meanwhile, the former Governor also warned his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against expelling Nyesom Wike.
Wike, a chieftain of the PDP, worked against the party in the 2023 presidential election and has since been appointed as a member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
Despite the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister’s alleged anti-party activities, Fayose said moving against the former Rivers Governor would be “at their own peril”.
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“Some people say fight Wike, expel Wike, sack Wike. I think they do that at their own peril. You see, the first thing in your family even when you have extreme situations, or indifferences, is not to drive away your wife or husband. Wike is a force in the PDP and beyond PDP, a force you cannot ignore,” he said on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, a prerecorded show that airs Friday nights.
“Ignore Wike, sack Wike, or fight Wike at your own peril. He is a man of capacity,” he said.
According to him, the PDP needs to unite members and work to restore the party which came second in this year’s presidential election.
Fayose reiterated the need for the southern part of Nigeria to produce the president, saying it could have been unfair for the northern region to have done so. In spite of his stance against the PDP which featured Atiku Abubakar – from the northern region – as its candidate for the poll, the former governor does not want to leave the main opposition party.
“The moment I am not in the PDP, I would never join another political,” he said. “And I would never be a member of the APC – not whether they are good or bad.”
He also debunked reports of him resigning from the PDP.
Away from politics, Fayose spoke about the recent wave of coups in Africa, attributing it to a sit-tight syndrome.
Even though The PDP chieftain hates military incursion into politics, he is “very happy” with developments in Gabon after soldiers seized power in the oil-rich Central African nation.
“In a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years, they must boot him out of the place,” he maintained.
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