Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said that he is still in the race for the 2019 presidential election despite the Peoples Democratic Party zoning the ticket to the North.
Fayose said he decided to soft-pedal on his campaign because of the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship poll.
Ready to repeat a resounding victory against Dr. Kayode Fayemi, if he is picked as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
On the agitations of some aggrieved PDP aspirants that Fayose should be prevented from interfering with the primary, the governor gave an assurance that the state had no role to play in the primary election, saying it was the prerogative of the Chief Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee.
Some aggrieved PDP aspirants such as a former Minister of Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye; Senator Biodun Olujimi, Owoseeni Ajayi and Amb Dare Bejide, had at a joint press conference on Monday advised Secondus to stop Fayose from playing any role in the primary.
Speaking during an interactive session with teachers in public primary and secondary schools at the Government House in Ado Ekiti, Fayose said, “I am still in the presidential race. I am only waiting for the time the Ekiti governorship election will hold so I can have the time.
“Though I am making contacts and I am reaching out to the people that matter across the country, I have no role to play, only the NWC will present the delegates’ lists for them to elect the candidate. So, I won’t interfere despite my support for Prof. Kolapo Olusola.
“I have no regret supporting Olusola. If it were those people I had supported, they won’t be abusing me. But they remain our brothers and sisters and we are going to put our house in order at the right time so that we can be on the same page.”
Fayose appealed to the teachers to support Olusola the way they supported him in the June 21, 2014 governorship election, where he defeated Fayemi.
“Don’t vote for those that will come here and sack you. When they sacked your colleagues in Kaduna State, an APC leader in Ekiti said it was a right step in the right direction and I believe such a person is not good for Ekiti teachers,” he said.
