Fayose Says He Was Obasanjo’s Stormy Petrel To Scuttle Atiku, Makarfi’s Presidential Bid
The Oasis Reporters
July 28, 2017
Rather than be Peter the rock for Obasanjo’s third term bid, Peter Ayo Fayose became his stormy petrel to sink the presidential aspirations of ex-Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and current Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ahmed Makarfi.
The Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose has revealed this in the current edition of The Interview that Obasanjo wrecked the chance of Makarfi becoming the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate in 2007 in favour of a “sick and stubbornly reluctant” Umaru Yar’Adua.
This was as he revealed his role in making this happen as then chairman of the PDP presidential selection committee.
The governor said in his naivety, Obasanjo used him to attack former Abia state governor, Orji Kalu, and other political enemies.
He said the scale fell off his eyes when on a trip with Obasanjo to Tripoli, Libya, where Obasanjo had gone to ask Muammar Ghaddafi to support his third term bid, the former Libyan president treated Obasanjo “like a serf”.
Reliving the incident , Fayose said, “It was such a pathetic scenario, so shameful. Obasanjo was speaking rapidly like a parrot. I was shocked beyond words. I never knew Obasanjo would be that humble.
“He was on one knee till the end of the conversation. Ghadaffi kept quiet and was just watching Obasanjo. When Obasanjo stopped rambling, Ghadaffi said, ‘Have you finished? Just know that I will not attend that meeting. I have other engagements.”
He also revealed how on two major occasions when he went to visit Abubakar at the height of Obasanjo’s third term bid, security details promptly reported him to the former president, even before he left the venue, leaving him feeling spooky and vulnerable.
On the Obasanjo-Atiku quarrel, the governor said, “Obasanjo told me that when you capture a general and you don’t kill him, he’ll come back and kill you; that since Atiku tried to stop him and failed, he must pay for it. And he (Atiku) is still paying for it.”
He also disclosed that his insider knowledge made him know that Obasanjo betrayed former Liberian president, Charles Taylor to get United States’ support for his third term bid, after promising Taylor a safe haven in Nigeria.
Fayose warned Orji Kalu against “selling” the Igbo down the river “for cheap politics” as he blamed President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for making IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, popular.
Only recently, Governor Ayo Fayose mooted the idea of running for president in 2019. His current tenure as Ekiti State governor ends in 2018, and he is not eligible to run again as governor of his south western State. This is his second and last term.
