Governor Ayo Fayose: "Jonathan shouldn’t have contested the 2015 election ... It was a mistake"

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has told online news site Premium Times that fielding Jonathan as the PDP’s presidential flag-bearer in the general elections last year, was a miscalculation.

“In the first place, we lost the election because we did not pick our candidate from the north, not because Jonathan as a person was bad. It was just a political miscalculation. The fact is that my former president, I chose my word, my former president, Goodluck Jonathan, tried his best. But if I were him, I would not have contested at all”, the garrulous governor said.

He added that “Because it is two ways: if Jonathan did not contest and the PDP lost out, he will still be an honourable man, and if he had given that opportunity to the north, those who defected from the PDP would not have defected. But that is story.

“Jonathan did his best and I will still continue to support him. You know I was not there when they took the decision about him becoming the flag-bearer, but it doesn’t matter. We can’t all put our mouth inside the soil. Somebody must remain with somebody. I will remain with Jonathan even if I am the only man standing. A man is not measured by the amount of food you have and the amount of properties you own. Sometimes sickness is good, it reshapes your life. Sometimes poverty is good, it helps your life. Sometimes failure makes you to reorder your life. It is not the end of your life”.

Fayose also dwelt on his relationship with Obasanjo and why the former president should be behind bars for corruption, his obsession with stomach infrastructure and allegations that he has stashed looted funds in Dubai.

“I will not comment. I cannot be talking to fools. When you say Fayose took N720million you must be able to say to which account. If it is by Ghana must go bag, you must show the picture of how that Ghana must go bag is being carried. If you say I am building a house in Dubai, you must show papers of ownership. Ekiti earns about the least in Nigeria, there is no money to steal here. If you tell me that I am enjoying, yes I enjoy o, I eat correct pepper soup, sometimes, once in a while, I need to drink cold Gulder, I drink Gulder. I cannot tell you lies, all those small, small enjoyment, you cannot take it from me. Because when you are feeding others, you have to feed yourself.

“Whatever little, little benefit that is supposed to come to me, my brother it is my own. But for me to take N10 or N20million from what cannot pay salaries …you see they run their mouth, they just want to say something because I am an issue for them. What is N720million? They said I took N220million to Dubai. Is it by the boot of the plane or we carried it in our luggage? What was their security doing, that they did not see us? They should be able to align …because when you launder money there must be a source and there must be a head. They have alleged I took money from the country. They should tell me where the money was taken to.”

For the full interview, click here