Fayose leads protest against Jos bombings, suspends campaigns

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose, on Thursday, led other chieftains of the party in the state in a procession to protest Tuesday’s twin bomb blasts in Jos, the Plateau State capital. The procession had taken off at the GRA in Ado-Ekiti and the protesters marched through Fajuyi Park to the Old Garage in the state capital. The protesters, clad in black attires, had sang dirges to mourn the victims of the blasts, with some of them carrying banners that said “Ekiti PDP mourns the victims of Jos bomb blast.” Addressing newsmen at the Old Garage, Fayose said “the reason for the protest is to identify with the victims of the Jos bomb blasts for reasons within good conscience and love for your fellow human beings.” Having announced a three-day suspension of his campaign rallies, Fayose said the campaigns remain suspended until Friday (today), pointing out that “we chose to identify with them by this walk and to appeal to whatever they call themselves in the name of politics, to stop shedding the blood of innocent Nigerians.” On what he thinks was the cause of the sustained insurgency and ability of the government to curb it, Fayose said: “We believe in this country and in the ability of the president to move this country forward. We identify with him. We call on all those who are distracting the president and his team for political gains to desist from such because of these innocent people. They should remember that there is time for everything. There must be a president at a given time, anybody who feels he has an axe to grind with Jonathan should wait for 2015.” According to him, “the state of insecurity is not about leadership of the country. It is about individuals. It is an insecurity that is targeted against certain people in leadership, carrying out problems at certain people on the streets is ungodly and the president is doing his best because the president won’t be everywhere at the same time.” He said “We will continue to pray for the families of the victims and try as much as we can to reach through any measure and to continue to tell them that we stand for justice, that we are standing against violence.”