Addressing newsmen, yesterday in Lagos, President- General of COPYA, Mr Kola Salawu described Fani-Kayode’s call as a campaign of calumny against the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He said: “He is running a campaign of calumny against the President and we think this is in the hope that he can drive a wedge between President Buhari and the Yoruba in his cabinet so that they can be shoved aside. This is likely FFK’s own way of ensuring he is regarded as a Yoruba voice after having turned the Federal Government against leaders in the region.”
Salawu said the call was aimed at pitching the Yoruba in government against other ethnic groups in the country.
He said: “Femi Fani-Kayode has however taken the proverbial sacrifice past the indicated road junction in his recent call on the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to take over government from President Muhammadu Buhari. FFK has backup vocalists in this demented call that has no place in the constitution. It is nothing short of a ploy to pitch the Yoruba in government, led by Vice President Osinbajo, against other ethnic groups in the country.”
“We are therefore warning that FFK and his likes are distracting the Vice President who assiduously goes about his duties as assigned to him by his boss, President Buhari. The recent issues raised by FFK in his incoherent response to a constitutional issue as regards President Buhari’s letter, as transmitted to the National Assembly, is clearly to cast the Vice President, who is now the Acting President, as a desperate person”, he added
Meanwhile,the Alaafin Oyo, Oba Olayiwola Adeyemi III has called on Nigerians to refrain from politicising President Muhammadu Buhari’s health saying it was unwarranted.
In a statement entitled: ‘Call for national prayer and support’, the monarch urged Nigerians to set aside their religious or ethnic differences and pray for the quick recovery of the ailing President. He also frowned at some Nigerians who mock the health status of President Buhari saying it is not proper to mock the sick because only God determines the future of everybody.
Oba Adeyemi said: “I have been following with great interest though mixed feeling comments that have been generated on both social and conventional media on the state of health of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Muhammadu Buhari.
‘’Let me state very clearly and unambiguously that in African culture, it is not proper to speculate the death of the sick. In Yoruba culture in particular, it is an abomination not only to speculate but to wish a fellow mortal dead. Neither is it proper to mock the sick because only God determines the future of everybody.
“In the custom belief and tradition of the Yoruba, death is not age determined. That is why in Yoruba tradition, we always pray for the recovery of the sick, no matter his age. “In the particular case of President Buhari; although like any mortal, he may be physically sick, that sickness is not in any way transferred to the style and level of governance in the country. ”
In other words, the President might have been delegating some responsibilities to the Vice President; he is still much in charge of the government. “That is why recent insinuations and interpretations including some political hypothesis on the state of the President’s health is not only uncalled for but unwarranted.”
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