Senator Shehu Sani has urged former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, to apologize to Northerners for his recent comments about people from the region.

In an interview on Channels TV on Monday, July 29, Fayose suggested that poor men having numerous wives and children they cannot support is a problem in Nigeria and a burden on the government. He referenced a visit to a Northern state where he met a security guard in a government house who earns N34,000 and has four wives and sixteen children.

Sani, along with other Northerners, found Fayose’s comment unacceptable and asked him to apologize. Reacting in a post on his official X handle on Tuesday, the former lawmaker described Fayose’s statement as “contemptuous and unconscionable.”

“Even though Fayose spoke as an individual, his reported statement on Northerners is contemptuous and unconscionable. I suggest he should humbly withdraw it and tender an apology as a statesman,” Sani stated.