He said while it is within the rights of Buhari to have preferred candidates, he was not aware of that.
Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi has cleared the air over his position with regards to President Muhammadu Buhari’s consensus arrangement with governors of the All Progressives Congress, ahead of the party’s national convention.
According to a Daily Trust report, Fayemi while speaking at a high-level policy dialogue organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), on Thursday, said he was not aware of any agreement on consensus.
He said while it is within the rights of Buhari to have preferred candidates, he was not aware of that.
The newspaper quoted him as saying, “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 preferred candidate… if his candidate wins, fine; if his candidate loses, fine.”
But a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, said his presentation at a recent event had nothing to do with APC.
Fayemi said his presentation was about democracy in West African countries like Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso and not about his party’s convention.
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.”
APC will on Saturday conduct its national convention in Abuja.
It’s believed that Buhari and the party’s governors have agreed to fill up the party’s positions through consensus during the convention.