Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has disclosed that his wife advised him against publicly criticising the late former President Muhammadu Buhari following his passing earlier this month.
Fayose made the remark on Politics Today, a Channels Television current affairs programme aired on Friday.
According to him, while he initially intended to speak harshly about the former president after his death, his wife intervened and urged restraint.
“The people in Nigeria only praise the dead. When President Buhari died, I wanted to come out and abuse him (but) my wife called me not to say so,” he said.
Recall that Buhari, who served as Nigeria’s president from 2015 to 2023, died on July 13 in a UK hospital. He was laid to rest two days later at his residence in Daura, Katsina State.
Fayose, a longstanding critic of Buhari’s administration, reiterated his belief that the late leader did not meet public expectations during his time in office.
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“Would you say Buhari performed? I’m not among those praising the dead. Don’t honour me when I die. When I die, I’m gone. When President Buhari was in government, we all know what this country was,” he said.
He contrasted Buhari’s style with that of his successor, President Bola Tinubu, whom he described as more accessible and transparent.
“He (Tinubu) is accessible. Was the former president accessible? A lot of things were happening in those days but do you still find them in the system? He is not a perfect man but we are not where we were,” Fayose remarked.
Commenting further on Tinubu’s leadership, Fayose defended the current administration, arguing that Nigeria’s deep-rooted problems cannot be resolved overnight.
“Nigeria is a sick country; it will take heaven to pull it out at once. What miracle can anybody do in two years? The situation is critical, wide and deep. Tinubu inherited a very bad economy,” he stated.
