Outgoing
Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose threatens to quit PDP; the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) following the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the standard
bearer of the party.
But
Jubrilla Bindow, governor of Atiku’s home state of Adamawa pledged his support
for President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential bid.
Fayose,
who is the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, alongside Rivers State
Governor Nyesom Wike, supported Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal who came a
distant second.
Fayose
in a statement said: “We have no regret aligning with Governor Wike to support
Governor Tambuwal for the presidential ticket and no apologies either.
“We
kept the party alive and strong when most men became ladies. We never
compromised. If any group feels it can do it alone, we will see how far they
can go.
“I
may renounce my membership of the party if the need arises.
“In
the mean time, myself and others will continue with our consultations while
watching the turn of events.
“We
cannot but appreciate leaders that have intervened so far, but this release
became necessary to avoid fresh crisis or misrepresentation.”
Fayose
earlier declared interest in contesting for President but withdrew .
Fayose
joined the PDP before the 2003 governorship poll which he won. He has been in
and out of the party at various times.
His
supporters joined All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), ProgressivesPeople’s
Alliance (PPA) after his impeachment from office while he had a working
agreement with the Action Congress (AC) in the 2009 governorship rerun
election.
Fayose
defected to the Labour Party (LP) in 2010 and ran as the Ekiti Central
senatorial candidate in the 2011 general elections but lost to Senator Babafemi Ojudu.
He
returned to the PDP in 2012 and ran as its candidate in the 2014 governorship
poll which he won.
Governor
Jibrilla, accoridng to a statement by Commissioner for Information Sajoh Ahmed,
condemned what he described as a looming blackmail by elements who he said were
planning to design a poster pairing Bindow with ‘the presidential candidate of
another party’, a ploy which he said was
wicked and baseless.
“Bindow
is an APC governor working for APC and has no intention to support or canvass
support for any presidential candidate outside APC. He has no support for any
candidate other than Buhari,” he asserted,
adding that anybody who prints
any document to portray anything to the contrary should be disregarded.
The
commissioner who refrained from specifically mentioning Atiku’s name in his
initial address, submitted at the question and answer session of the press conference
that Atiku as an Adamawa man winning the presidential ticket of a major
opposition party was ‘a factor’ but that Bindow already had the candidate of
his party and that Adamawa would always choose reality rather than promises.
He
said Buhari had done enough for Adamawa State since he became president to make
the people prefer him to any other candidate.
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