Former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term.
This is even as he endorsed the Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, and his deputy for a second term.
“I hereby endorse publicly without reservation, President Bola Tinubu for a second term. I also endorse our governor, Biodun Oyebanji, and his deputy for a second term.”
While speaking at a campaign programme, Fayose stated that while he had endorsed Tinubu, he would never join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said this while adorning a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cap at the event.
“Let me equally say this gathering is a unique gathering because all the former governors of this state, the leaders of this state, the National Assembly members of this state, all the people that matters, unanimously, including myself support.”
“I am not a member of his party and I will never be.”
This is not the first time Fayose will make such a statement.
In March 2023, he also declared that he would never join the APC.
Fayose stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today:
“Many people in Nigeria have been confronted with what they have said at different times and they either recant or say something new. I stand here to tell you that I will never be a member of the APC. I am not in politics for what it is anymore. God has given me a fair opportunity to lead Ekiti two times and defeated two incumbents.”
Fayose is not the only PDP chieftain that has thrown his weight behind Tinubu while remaining in the opposition PDP.
Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, also declared his support for Tinubu while vowing never to join the APC.
Adeleke’s support for Tinubu did not, however, stop the APC in Osun State from describing him as a liability.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the party’s chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, said the Osun governor was not welcomed into the APC fold because of his alleged baggage.
“Governor Ademola Adeleke was rejected because he was quickly identified as a Trojan horse, a big baggage and liability that would hurt the integrity of the APC,” Lawal said.
He claimed that the governor sought refuge in the APC out of fear of losing the 2026 governorship election, but the party was deliberate in shutting him out.
“We state first of all that the highly informed Osun State public, who are aware that it was the fear of the impending 2026 election defeat that motivated the governor to desperately seek in our party an asylum for his political survival in 2026, are excited about the measured treatment meted to the Osun State governor and his desperate party men,” the statement added.
The APC also criticised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing it as a collapsing structure now dominated by political opportunists.
“It is no longer news that the Osun PDP has become a leprous house deserted by decent politicians with intention to serve the people.
“From 2023, when the party began to morally emaciate and became a war loot of the Adeleke dynasty, bright minds and people with good names to protect, who could not tolerate the deceit, shenanigans and high-levelled corruption and brigandage the Adeleke government represents, daily troop out from the tattered umbrella into our party, thus leaving the PDP with carcasses and political dregs with no structure and hope to retain power in future elections,” the APC added.
“Therefore, the self-adulation of the PDP caucus that it remains the most popular party in Osun State is merely self-consolatory, as the claim could not be substantiated with facts,” Lawal said.
