Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State says the insinuations that he has pledged to support Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition are loose talks.
Fayose in an interview with Punch said he might consider joining the 2023 presidential race if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zones its presidential ticket to the south-west.
The former governor maintained that he and Tinubu are Yoruba leaders but they are at different levels of leadership.
Fayose further said if the APC leader gets his party ticket and the PDP presents him as its presidential candidate, he would defeat Tinubu at the polls.
He said, “I have said it over and over, Asiwaju remains a Yoruba leader; I remain a Yoruba leader. We are in different levels of leadership. But if I am being misquoted for the fact that I said Asiwaju is a Yoruba leader, I am saying I am a Yoruba leader, but Asiwaju in his own Yoruba leadership is in the APC; Ayo Fayose in his own leadership is in PDP.
“Who has told you that I don’t want to be President? Who has told you that if the PDP picks me that I will not defeat Asiwaju? Who has told you? You don’t know maybe I will still contest. If I come out and they zone it to the South-West and they say it’s Fayose, if they pick Asiwaju, I will defeat him!”
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Denying the claim that he supports Tinubu’s presidential ambition, Fayose questioned what he stands to gain in supporting the APC leader as a PDP chieftain.
“I have never seen the quote. It is impossible. How do I claim to be the husband of a woman in another man’s house? It is all heresies. Loose talks! Listen, the PDP government is far better than the APC government in Nigeria. Would he (Tinubu) leave the APC people and come to give me appointments or will he make me vice president, such that I work for the APC? It is not possible. Tinubu is for the APC, I am for the PDP. All these insinuations are just to call the dog a bad name so as to hang it,” he said.
The ex-governor reiterated that the PDP is Nigeria’s brightest choice in 2023.
Citing insecurity and the state of the country’s economy, Fayose said Nigeria would be doomed if the PDP does not win the 2023 election.
