Gov. Fayemi denies statement on consensus candidate

Fri, Mar 25, 2022

By editor

2 MIN READ

By Anthony Isibor.

GOVERNOR Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has debunked media reports that he rejected the APC arrangement for a consensus national party chairmanship candidate in the upcoming national convention, describing it as a misrepresentation of his views.

Reacting to the purported misrepresentation, Yinka Oyebode, chief press secretary to Gov. Fayemi, explained that the governor is well known as a leader not given to frivolous and distracting talk.

The media reports had stated that the governor rejected the consensus arrangement President Mohammed Buhari reached with the governors ahead of the party’s convention during policy dialogue organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, in Abuja on Thursday March 24, 2022.

Gov. Fayemi was also quoted as saying that while it is within the rights of President Buhari to have preferred candidates, he was not aware of that.

 “As for your question on whether the President has anointed anyone, I have no knowledge of that. But the President is well within his rights to have a preferred candidate… if his candidate wins, fine; if his candidate loses, fine,” Fayemi said.

“Asked to clarify his thoughts on the convention during a brief chat with journalists after the programme, Fayemi simply said: “You heard what I said.”

However, Oyebode said that Gov. Fayemi’s presentation at the event was about democracy in West Africa and democratic reversal in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso and not about his party convention.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Fayemi in response to a question from the audience accusing the President of imposing a chairman on the party at the forthcoming convention, stated that the President’s priority was the unity of the party and he didn’t know about the President endorsing any candidate for chairman. But that if indeed the President has expressed such a view, the President that he knows is a democrat and those who do not share the view may of course contest.”

AI.

– March 25, 2022 @ 12:41 GMT |