Ayodele Fayose, Governor of Ekiti State, and Shehu Sani, Senator representing Kaduna Central, have described the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office by seven northern governors as the height of contempt and lack of empathy.

Governors Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Jibrilla Bindo (Adamawa) and Simon Lalong (Plateau), paid Buhari a solidarity visit on Friday at the Aso Rock Villa, after which el-Rufai, the group’s spokesman told journalists that they have no apologies to anyone for endorsing Buhari’s re-election bid.

“We believe in Mr President; we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019; we have no apologies,” El-Rufai said.

“We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.”

But Fayose, who has been a vocal critic of the Buhari administration, thinks the endorsement is a clear demonstration of the contempt that government at the centre has for ordinary Nigerians.

“No fuel, killings in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Rivers, etc. But some people’s response to all these is to endorse President Buhari for second term. What a way to treat Nigerians with contempt,” Fayose wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

No fuel, killings in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Rivers, etc. But some people’s response to all these is to endorse President Buhari for second term. What a way to treat Nigerians with contempt…

— Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) January 12, 2018

Similarly, Sani expressed his displeasure at the endorsement thus: “Seven Governors in the Villa asking President Buhari to run at this material time when all hands should be on deck to advise or support him to end the mindless bloodletting & carnage in the country is most unfortunate. Human reasoning and human conscience where art thou?”

Seven Governors in the Villa asking President Buhari to run at this material time when all hands should be on deck to advice or support him to end the mindless bloodletting & carnage in the country is most unfortunate.Human reasoning and human conscience where art thou?

— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) January 13, 2018

Many Nigerians have condemned Buhari for not attending, or sending a representative to, the mass burial of almost 80 Benue State residents murdered by herdsmen between January 1 and 6.

In his weekly article, The Pendulum, Dele Momodu, veteran journalist and publisher of Ovation Magazine, said Buhari’s absence at that funeral was a missed opportunity for him.

“What should have been a special occasion for national rebirth and reformation was frittered away by the sheer arrogance of the ruling class,” he wrote. “What should have been a day of national mourning was treated with such recalcitrance, and possible disdain.”