I Won’t Dump PDP For APC, Says Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said he remains a committed member of the Peoples Democratic Party and has no immediate plans to dump the party.

He had on Wednesday, during a meeting with the members of the Suppliers’ Association of Nigeria, Ikere Ekiti chapter, said that he might seek another political platform to prosecute his succession battle in the 2018 governorship poll.

But Fayose on Thursday clarified his declaration and vowed that he would never dump the PDP for the All Progressives Congress under any guise.

Fayose said, “What I said is that if the current man-made crisis rocking the PDP persists till 2018, rather than allow it to mess us up like it did in Ondo, we may have to seek an alternative and credible platform. We are not people who betray the confidence of our people. If there will be a change at all, it will not be a spur-of-the-moment change. We shall carry our leaders and the people along.”

He spoke at the palace of Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, while being conferred with the honour of ‘Outstanding Achiever of Our Time’ by the Ado Progressive Union.

The governor added, “I will never dump the PDP for the APC. I remain strong and unshaken for the PDP. I can’t jump the boat, even if I want to jump, I won’t jump into the red sea.

“Why should I leave the PDP and join a party of hunger like the APC? Ekiti is different from Ondo. By the grace of God, there will be a repeat of history here in 2018; I shall repeat the 16-0  that I gave them in 2014.

“I operate like the biblical Elisha because those with us are greater than those with them. The God of Israel that conquered the Philistines shall be on our side.”

The governor assured the people of Ado Ekiti that more developmental projects would be executed by his government for him to remain indelible in the history of Ekiti State.

But the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, on Thursday urged Fayose to remain in the PDP until after his state governorship election in 2018.

Lalong advised Fayose to perish the thought of joining the APC now that the party was consolidating its hold in the South-West.

The Plateau State governor said this while speaking to reporters during the APC North Central Zonal Congress, held in Abuja.

The congress was organised to nominate people to fill vacant national party positions.