Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has restated his opposition to alleged plans by some aspirants and stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pick one of the aspirants in the race as a consensus candidate for the party in the June 21 governorship election in the state.
Fayose, who picked his nomination form at the PDP national secretariat on Thursday, said he would be ready to support any candidate that emerges through a free and credible primary election.
He dismissed reports that President Goodluck Jonathan and the party’s leadership had expressed preference for a consensus option, saying that there is nothing on ground to support such plan.
“I am not for consensus. If I am defeated in a free and credible primary election, I will gladly support the winner morally and materially. The party has affirmed its decision to conduct primaries, so consensus option does not arise.
“The President has left nobody in doubt that he does not have a mindset or an anointed candidate, contrary to claims by some of my co aspirants,” Fayose emphasised.
He described himself as the man to be beat in the party’s primary election slated for March 15, adding, “I will rule Ekiti State again come October 2014.”
Fayose who was impeached in October 2006, when he locked horns with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, over issues bordering on transparency, said that the race, this time around, is not about big names, but about the man with the highest number of votes, boasting that he would defeat the incumbent Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at the poll.
“I will defeat Fayemi because he is too elitist for the job. He speaks big, big, English that the people of Ekiti do not understand. As a grassroots man, I understand the people better,” Fayose stated.
