I did not resign from PDP, I only stepped aside – Fayose

Ilesanmi AdekanbiMarch 4, 2023

2 minutes read

A former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, has said he did not resign from the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former governor said he only stepped aside from the party.

Recall that Fayose had announced his stepping aside from the PDP while appearing as a guest on a programme on ARISE News on Thursday.

He said: “Let me say this, from today I stay off PDP. In party politics, there are certain facts you must be able to speak. I am 62 and I can’t, at this age, begin lying. When something is wrong with your family, confess.”

“I say it here from today, I step aside because I must be talking like a leader in this country.”

But Fayose said the media misinterpreted his words, says he did not resign from PDP, and revealed that he only stepped aside.

“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 a procedure and the 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 NEC, 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.

“I am not a member of the APC and will never be a member of the party. I have never hidden my respect for Tinubu. Notwithstanding, I believe that the 2023 presidential election is free and fair and I am entitled to my views.

“I am not interested in contesting for any political position again in my life. 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 the 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, he said.