Former governor of Ekiti State Ayo Fayose says he is best fit to be leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the south-west.
He also said that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, a PDP member, cannot claim to be his leader because he (Fayose) became governor as far back as 2003.
“I am not into any leadership struggle with Governor Makinde but the fact is Governor Makinde cannot come out and say he is my leader. He is not. The fact is that if my son is coming and he is a governor, I have to get up because it is the norm,” Mr Fayose said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“The gentleman is a governor and I must respect his office. Governor Makinde by all standards is the only PDP governor in the West. But all South-South PDP governors, who is their leader? Because he is the only one we have I used to be like that but I never said to anyone, ‘I am the leader of the west’. But if he wants to be addressed like that, it is okay.”
The ex-governor said Makinde cannot claim to be his leader just like Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu cannot claim to be the leader of ex-governor Bola Tinubu or Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike claim to be the leader of ex-governor Peter Odili.
“Is Governor Sanwo-Olu the leader of Asiwaju in Lagos? Is Ambode the leader of Tinubu in Lagos? Or Governor Wike is the leader of Odili? That language we have to choose it. Governor Makinde will probably be 32 years when I was governor in 2003.
“He is the leader in the south-west by reasons of his office. When we go out, we will say ‘your excellency’; but when we are at home, we are his father,” Fayose said.
