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Fayose says Nigeria is more important than President

The Ekiti state governor has asked that the president should honourably step down from his position.

President Muhammadu Buhari meets with a delegation of Nigerian governors in Abuja House, London

The governor has been one of the most outspoken critics against the ill president ever since he assumed office in 2015, and that has only gotten worse since Buhari flew to London over two months ago to resume treatment for an undisclosed illness.

The Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) Governors' Forum has accused Buhari's administration of dealing dubiously with the Nigerian public, especially on the health of the president.

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His unending stream of attacks against the president has earned the governor serious backlash from many quarters.

In a video that emerged on Monday, July 31, 2017, the governor tried to set the records straight, saying his criticisms against the President are valid, and beckoning on him to honourably step down from his position for the sake of the country's progress.

The governor's full statement read, "It is our duty as leaders to be held accountable to our electoral promises. It is our duty as leaders to be consistent. Whatever we say yesteryears should be able to match what is happening today.

"What I said about the president is very clear. I said that the President at a point before these visits was incapacitated and has been on a life support. I stand by it. I have no regrets for that statement.

"You recall that I said the handlers of the President should produce evidence to the contrary within 48 hours. After four weeks, they said they went to visit the president. Thank God the President is getting better now but there is no denying that what I said at the time was the truth.

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"If you go by the statement of the governor of Ebonyi, he said the President's recovery is a miracle, it's divine which means something had gone the other way round before becoming a miracle. I read in another piece that the President came up like Lazarus from the dead.

"Well, that is another person saying that. All I'm saying is that I stand by what I have said. Not in the wish that the President must die. But don't forget, more importantly, the President owes it to us all to declare his state of health. The president's life should be an open book that should be read by everybody.

"The fact remains that the President is not strong again. When you see the pictures, the President is frail. It's not a must that we must hold on to power even when we don't have the strenght.

"Like I said, I have nothing against the President. Nigeria is more important. Nigeria is a country that needs help at this time. Nigeria is a country that needs all hands on to be able to get a better tomorrow. To have our economy fixed, to have things change in our favour.

"As it is, the President can equally come back and go home to rest. He needs all the rest. As it is now, the President has spent more time outside the country that on his seat in the (Presidential) Villa. It's not okay.

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"That does not mean we want him dead, but we want the best for Nigerians. The lives of Nigerians is more important than the life of an individual.

"My advice is that the President should get well, we're praying for him. He has to take a decision; whether to tag on, whether to be a visiting president, whether to be a president in diaspora, whether to be a president that is taking care of Nigerians in the UK. One decision has to be taken.

"I love him but I'm saying that the President should take a back seat. One good thing you'll not take away is that this position of mine over time has equally put these people (his handlers) on the spot to  bring the president to the fore.

"Otherwise, we were hearing nothing about the president since he left. We were prevented from knowing what was going on.

"So it was because of a few things that I said they want to do damage control, to at least do something to make sure they showcase the President.

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"I wish him well but I tell you very expressly, health is wealth. Without strength you can't do much.

"If the President wants to be honorable, it is the best for the president to allow this country to move forward.

"Because if you say we should wait for when the doctors will ask him to come home, so if the president will be coming home a day to the expiration of his tenure, we should still wait? Then we'll keep waiting.

"The Lord God will deliver Nigeria."

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In June, Fayose had alleged that the President had been on a life support machine and later threatened, weeks later, to release 11 pictures that proved the President's poor state of health.

77 days after the President left the country, pictures of him finally surfaced online when he met with state governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on July 23, at the Abuja House in London.

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