Fayose Opens Up On Why He Opposes Buhari

Following his death wish for the All Progressives Congress
(APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the
Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has said he has nothing
personal against the former head of state.
The governor, who spoke on Thursday through a statement
issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said he is
not wishing Buhari dead as widely believed in many quarters,
but maintained that the APC presidential flag bearer is too old
to govern a complex country like Nigeria.
Fayose explained that he is opposed to the emergence of
Buhari as president because Nigerians do not deserve a leader
that will govern by proxy.
The Ekiti governor said his experience as chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ad hoc committee which
shopped for a suitable presidential candidate for the party in
the run-up to the 2007 presidential election informed his
opposition to Buhari’s candidature.
He revealed that his committee did not recommend the late
President Umaru Yar’ Adua, whom he said initially, rejected
the offer before he (Yar’Adua) was allegedly opposed by
former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Fayose said the criticisms trailing his mode of campaign for
the re-election of the PDP candidate, President Goodluck
Jonathan, are unnecessary, accusing the APC leaders
promoting Buhari’s candidature as insincere.
The governor, who said he owed nobody any apology for
exposing the hypocrisy of APC leaders, accused them of
placing personal interests far above national interests.
He alleged that the APC had not only packaged lies and tried
to foist such on Nigerians, but had compromised the
Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the
elections if it had held on February 14.
Going down the memory lane on how the late Yar’Adua was
preferred by Obasanjo, Fayose said he does not want the
events that took place in the PDP presidential primary in
December 2006 to be re-enacted in 2015.
Fayose said: “I remember then as the ad hoc chairman of the
PDP committee that shopped for the presidential candidate to
replace former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a crop of
suitable, brilliant, healthy and competent northern politicians
in the PDP were shortlisted by me for Obasanjo to pick from,
but he overruled the list and asked me to contact the late
Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua because he preferred him.
“In fairness to the late president, he objected to the offer on
health ground, but Obasanjo insisted that he must be the
president.