What Tinubu told me about APC – Fayose

Emmanuel AmudaApril 18, 2021

0 2 minutes read

Former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, has disclosed that former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, tried everything he could to persuade him to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but he declined.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Independent, Fayose, who said that President Muhammadu Buhari had killed the APC, said he agreed with Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, who compared the ruling party to cancer.

According to him, as a member of the PDP, he backed Governor Kayode Fayemi’s governorship ambition in the 2009 Ekiti governorship election and even campaigned for him because he wanted the PDP nominee, former governor Segun Oni, to be thrown out of office because he made life a living hell for him.

He said that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu tried everything to persuade Fayemi to join the APC, but he declined, saying he would leave politics the day he left the PDP.

He said “I want to quote Governor Wike. He said somebody has malaria, you want to dash him cancer. That is the same way I will represent it. APC is a cancer to the nation, even to the people that brought the party to power”.

“I listened to Pastor Tunde Bakare on television few days ago. Those things coming from Pastor Bakare does not represent the man supporting Buhari since 2011. The same applies to many of them, even in Northern Nigeria. When the head is sick, the whole body is in trouble. President Buhari has destroyed that party”.

“Let me say it very clearly. I am not in APC, I will never be in APC and even if I get angry inside this PDP, we will fight it together and I will still remain in this party. What will make me leave this PDP, that means I have retired from politics”.

“In 2009, I publicly backed Governor (Kayode) Fayemi. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu went out of his way to invite me to the APC, but I declined. If I join the APC in Ekiti, who will be my leader? Is this the Fayemi we’re referring to?

Will it be Niyi Adebayo, the former governor? Yes, before me, Adebayo was governor. He was governor in 1999, and I was governor in 2003, but the truth is that it’s better for them to stay in their path, and I’ll stay in mine as well.”

“Former governor Segun Oni gave me horror when he was in office as governor and to show him that the world is not about him, I supported Fayemi then in the governorship election”.

“Let me say to you, I am a clear character. What benefit will I derive by joining APC? Most of the governors today preserve themselves by clinging with Buhari before 2019. I never did that. In Nigeria today, I am one of the people that APC will not forget in their life”.

“I stood my ground against APC not because I hate anybody but because what I was saying about them has played out overtime. I am not somebody who will say what he is not convinced about”.