A former Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose said he advised the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar on how to resolve the lingering crisis of the opposition party, but his advice fell on deaf ears.
Fayose stated this in an interview with TVC, monitored by our correspondent on Wednesday.
The former Ekiti governor stated, “Our candidate, Atiku Abubakar invited me and I told him I was going to tell Wike before I could come. When I told Wike and he said I can go. Somebody said, but you are an older Governor than Wike but whatever that’s your story. God makes kings, God makes people be leaders, you might be younger, or older as long as he is the leader.
“So I went to our candidate in his hotel and I told him, I said, “Your Excellency it would be of great interest if you win the election. I told him this are the demands of these people.” I said “please stop saying by the constitution Ayu cannot be removed.”
“I advised him, I gave him alternatives to what he should be saying and I told him, the more he mentions this constitution, they will be reminding you that you are not supposed to be the candidate. How can they hold on to an Ayu against Wike, against Ugwuanyi, against the governor of Abia, against the governor of Benue, and so on?
“Even if you tell me that they lost, everyone knows that Obi had the East. They were not expecting that a miracle will happen. But the issue is that I told His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, I said Sir, go to Port Harcourt, don’t tell anybody, people like me will go and wait for you there, I and Governor Wike, just provide a few friends that can get a convoy for you come and park at Governor WIke’s gate.
“They’ll come and see us at the gate. We will now sit down there he will hold Wike and settle the matter. But certain people around Abubakar said no, don’t embarrass our Presidential candidate, he is the president in the waiting, nobody can feel big, nobody can play God,” Fayose said.
According to Fayose, the people around Atiku were fond saying, “Oga can’t do that.”
Recall that Fayose was rumoured to have resigned from the PDP following the party’s loss in Saturday’s presidential election.
But, Fayose has refuted the news reports, asserting that he still remains a PDP member, adding that he did not resign from the party but only stepped aside.
The former governor, in a statement he personally signed, titled, “I didn’t resign from PDP, I only stepped aside – Ayo Fayose,” urged Nigerians to continue to support and vote for the PDP,” especially in the governorship and houses of assembly elections”.
Fayose’s statement reads, “I am still a bonafide member of the PDP. I only said I stepped aside because I need to speak the truth to power without the fear of my view being tainted by party colouration. Resigning from a political party has procedures and same will be followed if I strongly find the need to leave the party.
“It is important that we have somebody that can say the truth without wearing any party toga.
“I am a member of the PDP, I am a member of the PDP National Executive Committee, a member of the party caucus, member of the Board of Trustees based on my position as a former chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. It’s a lifetime membership. But Nigeria is bigger than any party.”
Fayose also clarified that he is not a member of the All Progressives Congress and will never be a member of the party, adding, however, he deeply respects Tinubu.
He also stated that he is entitled to his view of the 2023 presidential election being free and fair
Furthermore, he stated that he is not interested in contesting for any political position again in his life asking, “What am I going to contest for at 62? Even if I want to contest, not under APC. I have said it repeatedly that I can never join APC and I am still saying it now.”
“But I need to emphasise that Nigeria needs somebody who will say the truth at this critical period in our history.
“Again, may I conclude here that Peter Obi is the man of the season. Asiwaju won the election, but PDP was too fractured to win an election at federal level. However, at the state level, elections are local, please continue to vote and support the PDP, especially in the governorship and houses of assembly elections.”
