Why I dropped presidential ambition —Fayose

GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said he has dropped his ambition to become president in 2019, explaining that there was more need for his presence in the state by his political party.

Fayose, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday while receiving a former governor of Kano State and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, said he had been vindicated about his 2015 warning that President Muhammadu Buhari lacked the capacity to govern the country.

Fayose said that he dropped his ambition because of the July 14th governorship election in the state, which he alleged was the “stealing of the mandate freely given to Professor Kolapo Olusola by the people.”

“As a good leader, I cannot abandon my loyal deputy whose mandate was stolen by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and be pursuing another ambition. My posters are there in a room, but I am committed to the recovery of the mandate,” Fayose said.

Speaking on President Buhari, Fayose said the president was “a wrong choice for the All Progressives Congress (APC), he is a black market.

“I told Nigerians in 2015 when Buhari was campaigning that he lacked capacity. His subordinates have always handled governance whenever he heads a place. You said what is this Fayose saying but today, you are a great convert.”

He charged the PDP to pick the best candidate “so that Nigerians would have a choice in 2019,” noting that, “we must approach this battle as a united body.”

Addressing the delegates, Kwankwaso admitted that the APC made a mistake in their change mantra by picking Buhari, saying “we all know what is happening as a result of the change we made. We regretted it and it was a mistake. We must change the change.

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“With your support and the support of the others, PDP will sack APC in 2019 and form the government at the centre.

“I have come to Ekiti to solicit for your support and through you, to ask for the support of the delegates.

Another presidential aspirant of the party and a former minister, Kashim Saminu Turaki, was also in the state to canvass the support of the delegates.

Turaki warned that the unity of the country was under great threat, saying “today Nigerians are divided like never before. The survival of the country is in serious jeopardy and her unity is under threat because we have a clueless and inept leadership.”

According to him, “insecurity bothering the country was just the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists who have been chased to the border towns, one expects the APC to have settled the issue but now they (Boko Haram insurgents) have regrouped and retooled with the federal government money.

“Everyday,  hundreds of people are killed across the country by criminal herdsmen and nobody has been arrested or prosecuted.

“In 2015, Nigerian economy was number one in Africa because we made people to believe in themselves, but today, Nigeria economy has collapsed and investors are divesting from the country.”