The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said the alleged plot by the Federal Government to prevent him from travelling abroad was inherently unconstitutional and dictatorial.
Surprised at the development, Fayose said; “Under the federal system of government, state governors are not appendages of the President and as a leading opposition figure in Nigeria, he cannot be cowed by President Muhammadu Buhari and his agents.”
Fayose, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Mr Lere Olayinka was apparently reacting to reports that two governors, one from the South-west and another from the South South have been placed on travel restriction on President Buhari’s order, saying whenever he wished to travel out of Nigeria, he will do so in the full glare of the public.
According to the governor, “I am not surprised or disappointed by this latest plot of the Buhari’s government because the President Buhari that we know is a man without any atom of respect for the rights of Nigerians and this he demonstrated as a military dictator and now demonstrating as an elected president.”
The governor said he was however amazed that; “This dangerous dimension of compelling a sitting governor that enjoys constitutional immunity like the President to obtain clearance from the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) before travelling out of Nigeria can ever be contemplated.”
He said President Buhari should know that under a federal system of government, the states and national government both enjoy some autonomy.