Fayose: Obasanjo talks to remain relevant — I don’t take him seriously

Ayo Fayose, Ekiti state governor, has advised Nigerians to disregard the utterances of former President Olusegun Obasanjo regarding the emergence of an Igbo president in 2019.

The governor was reacting to a statement by Obasanjo that the Igbo should be considered for the presidency in 2019.

In an interview with The Sun, Fayose said that the former military head of state, simply “runs his mouth to remain relevant” in the political sphere.

He accused the former president of doing more harm than good towards national development.

“Do you ever take Obasanjo seriously? I don’t take him seriously. By his nature, Obasanjo wants relevance at all times,” Fayose said.

“We have worked with him and used to be his foot soldiers. I know him more than anybody in this country. He just talks, so that he would remain relevant.

“Do you see any other former president in the country running his mouth like his? If it is not the fact that he has a voice as a former head of state, where is Obasanjo’s constituency?

“Let’s give it to him, as a leader in this country, whoever has governed this country before would remain our leader, but he must equally recall and admit that he is becoming more fairly negative than working towards national building.”

Fayose said that as opposed to Obasanjo’s utterances, his are foretelling, adding that his self-acclaimed prophecy on senate president Bukola Saraki will come to pass.

“Nigeria today, many of the things I have said before and after elections, people are realizing that they are the truth,” he said.

“Initially, when I started, everybody was saying Fayose has come again o. He is saying this, he is saying that.

“My prophecies on Saraki would come to pass. If you look at the first prophecy, I said there would be attempt made to put him in trouble.
This year, I said he would not be removed and that those trumped up charges against him would disappear.

“Let us wait. Let’s see the drama. There is a lot of undercurrents and drama o. There is a lot of horse-trading going on. So let’s leave it like that for another day.”

Speaking on the defection of his party members to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Fayose described it as an act of dishonour and a lack of principles on the part of the defectors.

“I will describe it like this; men of honour and integrity don’t run away from challenges,” Fayose said.

“Running from APC to PDP or PDP to APC, and particularly from PDP to APC because APC is in power, shows that most people don’t have principles.

“Some might come out and tell you that it is because our party has issues, have you seen a party without issues? So, the bottom line is that our democracy is still not based on ideology.

“It is a matter of time and when the table turns where would they then run to? Will they run back?

“When you are too desperate and you are looking for manna at all cost, looking for snail in the heat of January and February in a Sahara desert. If you are not careful you meet snakes on the way.”