GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has denied allegations that he is plotting to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for either the All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other party.
Governor Fayose, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday after being honoured by the people of Ado Ekiti, was reacting to media reports that he had given hints that he might dump the PDP for another party as the build up to 2018 governorship election in the state gathers momentum.
Fayose, who was conferred with “An Outstanding Achiever of Our Time” award by the Ado Progressives Union (APU), on Thursday, at the palace of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe Aladesanmi III, maintained that he remained a committed member of the PDP.
He said: ”I remain a strong and reliable member of the PDP. We don’t jump boats and if we want to jump, it’s not into the Red Sea. I can’t go and join them where hunger is ravaging the people.
“The truth is that what happened in Edo and Ondo states can never happen here in Ekiti. Come next election, we will still repeat the 16-0 feat.”
On the award, Fayose said though he was not an award freak, he accepted the one given by APU because it was in recognition of his work.
He said: ”Many years to come people will still talk about a Fayose that transformed Ado-Ekiti. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s legacies are living after him years after he died. Good works are like treasure that can’t be hidden.
“I dedicate this award to my wife for her support and prayers. I also dedicate it to the people of Ekiti, the Osoko people who have given me the opportunity to be their governor.
“I dedicate it to the common man who believes in me and my cause. I have raised the stake and nobody can undermine this palace in the scheme of things.”
In his speech, the President-General of APU, Chief Obafemi Ojo, said it was clear that Fayose had done what no former leader of the state had done for the town and the state in general.
Ojo added that Fayose had been kind to Ado-Ekiti people in terms of appointments and development.
Oba Aladesanmi III said the award was in recognition of Fayose’s “uncommon service to Ado-Ekiti and the state in general.”
Governor Fayose had said on Wednesday that he was not sure of the platform his successor would contest on, following the various political scheming that have nearly crippled the PDP and the political moves by the ruling APC at the federal level.
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