Rotimi Ojomoyela
Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ex-governor of Ekiti state, Mr Ayodele Fayose has declared that the ongoing reconciliation with the 13 aggrieved aspirants has begun to yield fruitful results, saying that the party “is now well positioned and fortified to defeat the APC in any election.”
Fayose said no amount of abuses being hurled against him by the All Progressive Congress (APC) would distract him from defeating Governor Kayode Fayemi in the June 21 election.
Fayose made the statement during a rally organised by a governorship aspirant and former Fayose’s deputy governor, Mr Bisi Omoyeni, in Ikere Ekiti to drum support for the PDP.
PDP chairman in the state, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, who has not featured in any of Fayose’s campaigns, was present at the event, which signaled that the party members are ready to embrace peace.
Ogundipe appealed to all the members of the party to bury their differences and coalesce efforts with the party’s candidate to win the forthcoming election.
Fayose said “I won’t be distracted by whatever they say about me. I am committed to this course. It is like running a race, so I won’t look sideway, but where I am going.”
He praised the 13 aggrieved aspirants for embracing peace after the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.
Fayose declared that he would continue to offer leadership to all the members of the party, promising not to victimise anybody based on their political beliefs.
He said: “By my age and experience now, I have grown more in wisdom and knowledge. So, rather than fighting anybody, I will prefer to befriend you so that I can surpass the records I left behind in terms of infrastructure and human capital when we get to government.”
Disclosing that Ikere Ekiti is strategic to the development of the state, Fayose promised that he would replicate the kind of attention he accorded the town during his time as the governor of the state when elected.
Omoyeni, who described Fayose as a “promise keeper” and someone with a large heart, said “he is a friend of the poor and less privileged. I believe he can make Ekiti better than what we are witnessing today.”
