Isaac Fayose, younger brother of former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has publicly criticised his older brother over comments linking the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State to the administration of incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde, declaring that he was ashamed of the former governor’s hypocritical remarks.
Isaac made the remarks in a video shared on his Facebook page Monday night shortly after Ayo Fayose alleged during a television interview that the Oyo State Government orchestrated the abduction of the schoolchildren and teachers to blackmail President Bola Tinubu.
The video, posted with a caption, “My brother shame dey shame me. Abeg hear my brother”, shows Isaac strongly distancing himself from the former governor’s position and questioning the logic behind the comments.
“Abeg, my brother, what is the sense in this video?” Isaac queried.
Reacting directly to Ayo Fayose’s claim that Governor Makinde may have been behind the abduction of the schoolchildren and teachers to score political points, Isaac argued that such reasoning should also be applied to earlier incidents of insecurity in other states, including their native Ekiti State.
“Four to five weeks ago, they kidnapped people in my own Ekiti State, and you are supporting the governor there. Why don’t you tell the governor that, ‘You are collecting security vote, why can’t you protect the people of Ekiti?’” he asked.
The businessman and social commentator said he was concerned about how the public was perceiving his brother’s comments, suggesting that many Nigerians were struggling to understand the motive behind the allegations.
“My brother, why? People are looking at you like, ‘What is this man turning to?’ Why?” he said.
Isaac further argued that if Ayo Fayose’s position were accepted, then governors of states under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should also be blamed whenever insecurity occurs within their jurisdictions.
“So you mean people that have been dying in APC States — Borno, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kwara — their governors, they pocket their security votes?” he queried.
He maintained that insecurity was a national challenge affecting states regardless of political affiliation and cautioned against making allegations that could be interpreted as politicising the suffering of kidnap victims and their families.
“My brother, please, if you don’t have anything to say, please stay quiet like any other former governor. It is not by force to be relevant by talking,” Isaac said.
Describing the comments as inappropriate, he urged the former governor to refrain from making statements that could further inflame political tensions surrounding the abduction.
“This is not right,” he stated.
In an emotional appeal at the end of the video, Isaac called on his older brother Fayose to reflect on his remarks and consider the moral implications of his public interventions.
“My brother, fear God,” he said.
Isaac’s reaction came moments after Ayo Fayose, during an appearance on ‘Politics Today’ on Channels Television on Monday night, suggested that the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State was “orchestrated in a way” by the state government to blackmail President Tinubu.
The former governor had argued that state governments also have security responsibilities and questioned Governor Makinde’s response to the abduction, claiming that political activities took precedence before visits were made to the kidnap victims’ families.
