Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has distanced himself from a report that said he rejected the consensus arrangement by President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the All Progressives Congress national convention.
Speaking at an event organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), on Thursday, Fayemi was quoted to have said he was not aware of Buhari’s consensus arrangement.
This is despite Governor Simon Lalong revealing that Buhari had met withAPC governors and intimated them on his preference for Abdullahi Adamu as National Chairman of the party.
“As for your question on whether the President (Muhammadu Buhari) has anointed anyone, I have no knowledge of that. But the President is well within his rights to have a prefer candidate… if his candidate wins, fine; if his candidate loses, he would have to live with that,” Fayemi was quoted by Daily Trust to have said.
However, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, the Governor stated that he was misrepresented by the report.
The statement reads partly: “The general public is hereby notified that a news story in circulation with the above headline is a misrepresentation of the views of the Governor of Ekiti State, Fayemi.
“Fayemi at a policy dialogue organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja on Thursday, was quoted as rejecting the consensus arrangement President Mohammed Buhari reached with the Governors ahead of the party’s convention.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Fayemi in response to a question from the audience accusing the President of imposing a Chairman on the party at the forthcoming convention, stated that the President’s priority was the unity of the party and he didn’t know about the President endorsing any candidate for Chairman.”
