Fayemi: I didn’t reject APC consensus candidate

Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has debunked media reports that he is kicking against the consensus candidate for the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

President Muhammadu Buhari and APC governors had on Wednesday at a meeting reached consensus on the national chairman of the party.

Former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is tipped as the consensus candidate.

But a report on Thursday indicated that Governor Fayemi has rejected the consensus arrangement.

Fayemi, however, said there is no truth in the reports.

The governor clarified his statement at a policy dialogue organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja on Thursday.

“The general public is hereby notified that a news story in circulation with the above headline – FAYEMI REJECTS CONSENSUS CANDIDATE – is a misrepresentation of the views of the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

“Dr. Fayemi at a policy dialogue organised by the CDD in Abuja on Thursday, was quoted as rejecting the consensus arrangement President Mohammed Buhari reached with the Governors ahead of the party’s convention.

“It must be stated, however, that Governor Fayemi’s presentation at the event was about democracy in West Africa and democratic reversal in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso and not about his party convention.

National Chair: APC govs back Buhari on consensus candidate

“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor 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. But that if indeed the President has expressed such a view, the President that he knows is a democrat and those who do not share the view may of course contest.

“Governor Fayemi is well known as a leader not given to frivolous and distracting talk,” Yinka Oyebode, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Fayemi stated.

The Star