Smarting from the loss of his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Ondo State and in a bid to avoid the political booby traps that threw the succession plan of Governor Olusegun Mimiko into disarray and eclipsed the PDP in the State Governor of Ekiti State.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State hinted Wednesday on the possibility of using another platform to prosecute his succession battle during the 2018 governorship poll .
National Daily monitored Fayose, who dropped the hint in Ikere Ekiti while meeting with the members of the Suppliers’ Association of Nigeria, Ikere Chapter.
In his words “I don’t know the platform I will use for the 2018 election yet and at the appropriate time, I will tell you”.
“We are still studying the situation . We have to play the game left, right and centre and whoever we are going to use and the platform, you will all be part of the process because party politics is about the people”.
Fayose also said the victory of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the Saturday’s governorship poll in Ondo State does not in any way threaten the popularity and general acceptability of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti.
He reiterated and described Akeredolu’s victory at the poll as a contrivance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in cahoot with APC, added that the victory did not confer legitimacy on the poll or lent credence to the fact that Ondo electorate had voted rightly.
“You all saw how people sold their votes in Ondo state, I am confident that that will not happen in Ekiti. I am close to the people you are the source of my strength . Even if it requires just 48 hours to any election, if I tell you where to go, you will surely follow me there”, Fayose said.
At a separate meeting with the junior staff of the state civil service, Fayose boasted that he will repeat the 16-0 he meted out to Ex-governor Kayode Fayemi in 2014, where he defeated the incumbent in all the sixteen local governments .
He promised that he would continue to do his best in the payment of salaries by carrying the workers along to know what accrues to the state from the federation account, adding that there won’t be communication gap once his government doesn’t operate in secrecy.
“APC will be fooling itself if it thinks it will conquer Ekiti like it did in Ondo. Ekiti is a peculiar place and I am the man on ground here. I want to assure my supporters and Nigerians that APC won’t win a local government here in 2018, even if President Muhammadu Buhari moves down all the money in FG’s TSA.
“Governor Olusegun Mimiko and Eyitayo Jegede must have lost in Ondo State, but that does not mean the people had voted rightly. In 2015, people clamoured for change and what have we got now? Nigerians are becoming poorer than ever.
“Today, I am the only one among the APC governors in the southwest . I am now like the nation of Israel surrounded by enemies, but I shall defeat and triumph over them.
“APC has never defeated me in any battle, either political or legal.
Whether they like it or not, I will win in Ekiti no matter the animosity, because I have the people behind me”, Fayose declared.