Even though they are in opposing camps ahead of next year’s election, Ayo Fayose says he will not resort to insulting All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu.
Fayose, a leader of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the remark on Thursday during a Channels Television’s program, which was monitored by The Herald.
“Let me tell you: if people are expecting me to abuse Tinubu to show that I am not supporting him, I would not do that,” he said during the show.
Former Ekiti State governor and Governor Nyesom Wike ally claimed that despite political differences with President Muhammadu Buhari, northern governors and politicians do not resort to abuses.
He described Tinubu as a Yoruba leader, and as such, he will not insult the former Lagos State governor, despite their political differences.
Fayose stated that he holds PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar in the same regard as the APC chieftain.
“If the only way to demonstrate to everybody that I am Bola Tinubu’s enemy is to come out as a Yoruba man and insult Bola Tinubu, I will never do it,” he added.
“Listen to me, Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu are over 70 years old leaders, why were they sitting together to rub minds and did not carry cutlasses against it each other? Count me out of that (insulting Tinubu).”
“I am not going to be insulting Atiku,” Fayose insisted. “I am not going to be insulting Tinubu.”
The PDP chieftain also reiterated his position on power shifting to the country’s south. According to him, because President Buhari is about to finish his second term and is from the northern region, the southern region of the country should produce Nigeria’s next president.
While he is an ally of Wike, who has been at odds with the PDP since the party’s presidential primary, Fayose has stated that he will continue to work for the party.
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