The governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, on Wednesday hinted that he would leave the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, should the crisis in the party continue by 2018.
The governor, who gave the hint while meeting with the Suppliers Association of Nigeria, Ikere chapter, at Ikere-Ekiti, expressed concerns over the crisis which led to the failure of the PDP to win the Ondo State governorship election held Saturday.
“I don’t know the platform I will use for the 2018 election yet and at the appropriate time, I will tell you,” Mr. Fayose said.
“We are still studying the situation. We have to play the game left, right and centre and whoever we are going to use and the platform, you will all be part of the process because party politics is about the people.
“You all saw how people sold their votes in Ondo state, I am confident that that will not happen in Ekiti.
“I am close to the people; you are the source of my strength. Even if it requires just 48 hours to any election, if I tell you where to go, you will surely follow me there.”
He said the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu of All Progressives Congress as governor of Ondo State posed no threat to the PDP in Ekiti State.
At a separate meeting with junior workers of the state civil service, Mr. Fayose assured that his party would defeat the APC in the 2018 governorship election, while promising to ensure the payment of salaries of the workers.
“APC will be fooling itself if it thinks it will conquer Ekiti like it did in Ondo,” he said. “Ekiti is a peculiar place and I am the man on ground here.
“I want to assure my supporters and Nigerians that APC won’t win a local government here in 2018, even if President Muhammadu Buhari moves down all the money in FG’s TSA.
“Governor Olusegun Mimiko and Eyitayo Jegede must have lost in Ondo State, but that does not mean the people had voted rightly.
“In 2015, people clamoured for change and what have we got now? Nigerians are becoming poorer than ever.
“Today, I am the only one among the APC governors in the southwest. I am now like the nation of Israel surrounded by enemies, but I shall defeat and triumph over them.
“APC has never defeated me in any battle, either political or legal. Whether they like it or not, I will win in Ekiti no matter the animosity, because I have the people behind me.”
Mr. Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, clarified that the governor had no plans to defect from the party.
He said that the governor’s statement suggested that if the situation that made the PDP to lose the Ondo election resurfaced, he would have no choice but to seek an alternative platform.
“He is not leaving the party,” Mr. Olayinka said. “He was only being futuristic to the intent that if the problems that affected the party in the Ondo state persist, then he would have no choice but to leave the party.”
He added that the move would be necessary not to suffer the same fate as Mr. Mimiko and Eyitayo Jegede suffered at the polls on Saturday.