By James Orji
Will former Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state be the next politician to defect from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC? That, obviously, is the question on the lips of many Nigerians, after he visited APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his Lagos home.
The opposition party has been bleeding lately after no fewer than three state governors left for APC. Some members of the National Assembly have also changed sides as the hemorrhage in the PDP continued.
Fayose is the latest among politicians who has visited the Bourdillon, Lagos home of the APC stalwart since he returned from a medical trip in the United Kingdom, last week, amidst suggestion that Tinubu nurses presidential ambition. The APC bigwig has yet to make his interest public.
The Ekiti strongman has been speculated to leave the PDP, the party under which he ruled Ekiti state for eight years, following his recent travails in the party, particularly in his state where he’s having a running battle with Senator Abiodun Olujimi and other party leaders over the control of the soul of the party.
His squabble with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state for the control of the South West PDP leadership has further fueled speculation that his days in PDP were numbered. Earlier in April, Fayose’s candidate for the South West PDP Chairmanship position, eddy Olafeso lost to Makinde’s candidate in the election, Taofeek Arapaja, a former Deputy Governor of Oyo state.
Speaking after visiting Tinubu on Wednesday, the former governor said his action had nothing to do with defection, adding that it was a normal thing for him to pay the politician who has just recovered from a knee injury a visit.
He said such rumour remained in the imagination of those that peddle it because he had no intention of defecting from his party that has given him so much.
According to him, “to those negative political analysts, this visit notwithstanding, I remain an unrepentant PDP leader and key stakeholder.
“Health issues know no political party and in this part of the world, we seldom celebrate people when they are alive,” Fayose said. “Rather, we like to sign condolence registers. To me, that is not the best way to live.”
At the height of his disagreement with Governor Makinde early this year, rumoured spread that the former Ekiti helmsman was prepared to dump his party. He denied.
“I’m over 60. What do I want to become? I was governor at 42. All the opportunities anybody could offer, PDP offered me,” Fayose said on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics in February.
“I will not go to APC. What is missing? Some people choose to be dishonourable. Not me. I will rather go and be the husband of my wife, Feyisetan Fayose, and my son,” Fayose said.
In 2010, the former governor defected to the Labour Party, LP, vowing to chase PDP from the state in the 2011 elections. He returned two years after, going ahead to win the governorship election for a second time in June 2014.
Meanwhile, a former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun state also paid Tinubu a visit on Wednesday. A former member of the PDP and Director General of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign in 2019, Daniel dumped his former party for the ruling APC early this year.
