President Goodluck Jonathan has denied any connection with an advertisement placed in a national daily by the governor of Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, urging Nigerians not to vote for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, because he may die in office if elected as the president of Nigeria in the next general elections.
The Director of Media and Publicity of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said in Abuja on Tuesday that the organisation had nothing to do with the advertisement. While claiming that Fayose was a distinguished member of the PDP, Fani-Kayode explained the Ekiti State governor placed the offensive advert at his personal discretion.
The advert warns that “Nigerians Be Warned! Nigeria…I have set set before thee Life and Death. Therefore, choose life that both thee and thy seed may live.”
Fani-Kayode said, ““Governor Ayo Fayose is a distinguish leader of our party. A. democratically elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for and he released this advert in his own name. That represents his own personal opinion which he is entitled to.
“What I can tell you on our part as the Presidential campaign organisation is that it does not represents the opinion of the Presidential Campaign Organisation or indeed the President, it is his opinion, which he is entitled to and he is somebody that we have immense respect for, he is a leading member of the party, I have spoken with him and we respect him but for anybody to suggest that this is the position of the presidential campaign organisation or President Goodluck Jonathan, that will be most unfair.
“If we wanted to say something like that we will say it without any kind of apology but of course, we will never say that because we believe in the sanctity of life. Age is not a function of how long you will live.
“It is important that we recognise the fact that age is not an indication of how long somebody will live. We believe strongly that we must continue to show immense respect to the person of General Buhari,” he said.
However, Fani-Kayode emphasised that the PDP will not shy away from asking salient question’s about Buhari’s health status. “We believe it is important to always raise question about facts, you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them,” he said.
The Spokesperson of Jonathan’s Campaign Organisation noted that the PDP never wish the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate dead, “we do not wish him ill, we do not wish him dead, we wish him long life and we believe strongly that such sentiment can be aired by individuals certainly not in our name.
“Fayose never said that he was speaking on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan but for his own self and he said that he issued it in his name. And I have emphasize that that is his opinion and he is entitled to it.”
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