- Safiu Kehinde
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has forgiven former Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, at his 65th birthday ceremony.
Obasanjo made this known during his address at Fayose’s birthday celebration on Saturday at the 10th Degree Event Centre in Lagos.
Prior to the event, the ex-Ekiti state governor had paid a courtesy visit to Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, where he announced his reconciliation with the former President after over a decade of malice and feud.
Obasanjo would at the event yesterday confirm his forgiveness of Fayose as he recalled how he had called him and his wife irresponsible when they were asking for forgiveness.
“After you’ve heard from me, you phoned your wife. And spoke to your wife and I said Madam, you and your husband are not responsible. And your wife completely agreed by saying ‘Baba you are right, please forgive us’.
“And then having said that, what else can I do? So, you have asked for forgive and I hereby confirmed that you are forgiven.
“As I said, we are all here to celebrate you. 65 years on the surface of the earth is worth celebrating.” Obasanjo said.
According to the reports, the former President and ex-Ekiti state governor were known for open disagreements, with Obasanjo once describing Fayose as “unruly”, while Fayose accused the former president of political arrogance and intolerance.
Their feud intensified in 2006 after the then-President Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Ekiti State and outrightly removed Fayose from office.