I’m being pressured to join APC – Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday said there was pressure on him to join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, but said he would not yield, even if he had to leave the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Mr. Fayose, who spoke at a gathering in Ado-Ekiti, said the practice of “use and dump” adopted by the leadership of the APC would not allow him contemplate moving into the party.


“Some people have been making overtures to me to join the APC, but I cannot join them,” he said. The governor alleged that a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, who he said worked hard to ensure victory for the APC during the 2015 general elections, was subsequently abandoned by those he helped into power.

“With what have they repaid somebody like Asiwaju Tinubu; he worked and helped the party to secure victory but has been dumped. That is not a party I would be interested in joining,” Mr. Fayose, who chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, said. “One thing I would not allow is for anybody to rubbish our leaders in the South-West.

Our leaders, including Asiwaju Tinubu must be accorded their due respect, as any attempt to rubbish them will be taken as a slap on the entire Yoruba race.” A protracted leadership crisis has presently polarized the PDP at the national level, with Ahmed Maka‎rfi and Ali Sheriff, leading separate factions of the party.

The development has given rise to fresh calls to register a new party that would accommodate those in the camp of Mr. Makarfi, who is dissatisfied by an appeal court judgment recognising Mr. Sheriff as the authentic leader of the party. Mr. Fayose is one of the main backers of Mr. Makarfi and has vowed never to work with Mr. Sheriff as PDP chairman.