From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
FORMER governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has urged the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to stop Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, from contesting for presidency in 2019, saying it is the governor’s fundamental human right to contest for the nation’s number one seat.
Ladoja, who visited Fayose at the Governor’s Office in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, said Fayose is eminently qualified to contest for the presidency in 2019, stressing that no one should stop him.
“Govenor Fayose is my own brother and he is a go-getter. Whatever he sets his mind to achieve, he goes for it and he gets it. He is eminently qualified and possesses all the leadership capabilities to rule Nigeria and take us out of the woods.
“Some people in the PDP have said that they have zoned the presidency to the North, but it is left for Fayose to convince members of the PDP to support his presidential ambition. He is fit for it judging from his antecedents as a quintessential leader in the country. I also want to advise the party leadership to use zoning of the presidency in a way that would guarantee the PDP winning the election in 2019 and not as a way of favouring some individuals who may not be ready for the job and to give the great party victory at the election,” Ladoja said.
The ex-governor, who hinted that he was about to return to the PDP, also told the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State to perish the thought of taking over power from the PDP in 2018.
He said: “Fayose has performed excellently well in governing Ekiti. There is no governor in this country today that can beat his chest two times and say my state came top for two consecutive times in NECO. Fayose, as a political enigma cannot be uprooted in Ekiti based on his good governance, transparency and the many good projects he is embarking on in the state and which adorns the landscape of the Fountain of Knowledge. I therefore advise the APC to forget Ekiti in 2018, as Ekiti people would not like to leave Fayose because of his good works.”