MEANWHILE… Did Fayose just commend Buhari?

The unimaginable has happened: Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari – probably for the first time in his life.

Fayose, who had been criticising every move and every statement of Buhari before the 2015 presidential election, has praised the president for “embracing dialogue” with Niger Delta militants who have been bombing oil and gas pipelines since February.

In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, Fayode praised the president “for listening to wise counsel” in opting to negotiate with the militants.

The federal government announced on Monday that it would scale down military operations and send a delegation led by the national security adviser, Babagana Monguno, a retired major general, to dialogue with the militants.

“The Niger Delta region as at today is still the golden goose laying the golden eggs on which all other regions are surviving and it will be suicidal for military action to be sustained against the militants,” Fayose said.

He added a low blow, though, saying he was happy that “for the first time, the president took to advice and suspended military actions in the Niger Delta and opted to dialogue with the militants”.

Fayose, who famously placed a newspaper advert warning that Buhari was too ill to be president, is yet to comment on the ailment that has seen him travel abroad for treatment.

However, he said the president’s approach to civil unrests of any kind had caused more security problems in the country.

“The president must stop talking tough on issues that dialogue can resolve,” he said, adding that the “hardline” approach of Buhari had already cost Nigeria billions of dollars in revenue.

“If our daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day had been sustained, Nigeria would have been having savings in the Excess Crude Account by now,” he said.

“Crude oil bench mark is $38 per barrel while the oil is now being sold at $50 per barrel, meaning that we would have been having $12 per barrel saved in the Excess Crude Account.”

He urged members of the negotiation committee to see the assignment giving to them as one that is highly important to the
revival of the country’s economy, saying that they should not act in anyway that will suggest that they were not sincere.