Uduegbunam Chukwujama
Barring any last-minute change of plans, Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Olukayode Fayemi is set to declare for the 2023 Presidency on Wednesday May 4, 2022 in Ado-Ekiti, authoritative sources told Prime Business Africa on Monday night.
Fayemi, our correspondent gathered, has been consulting widely, but quietly, across the All Progressives Congress (APC) states, especially in the North, in what sources said was a careful move to ”embed the ticket.” Prime Business Africa had reported that he not only visited the governors but also broke fast with at least three of his northern colleague governors, including El-Rufai of Kaduna State.
READ ALSO: 2023: Fayemi Quietly Visits 10 APC States, Breaks Ramadan Fast With 3 Northern Govs
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAlthough the May 4 declaration date is still under wraps, Prime Business Africa sighted some documents which confirmed that the Ekiti Governor has actually perfected plans to officially and publicly announce his intentions on the said date. It remains unclear his colleague governors and other APC faithful he intends to invite for the declaration but sources said some members of the Afenifere, the foremost Yoruba socio-political organisation, are already on Fayemi’s list of special guests.
With his 2023 presidential intentions now confirmed by Prime Business Africa, the list of APC presidential aspirants in Fayemi’s Southwest has been further swelled and their ranks threatened amid an army of other serious contenders from the Southeast and Northern Nigeria, a development that has continued to cast doubts on the ‘zoning equation.’
Also from the Southwest are two major APC presidential aspirants, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who will now be slugging it out with Fayemi for the APC ticket between May 30 and June 1 when the ruling party would be having its National Convention to pick candidates for the 2023 elections.
The new information on Governor Fayemi’s presidential ambition comes barely two weeks after the NGF chairman told Prime Business Africa in a telephone conversation that he would not be declaring for Presidency until adherents of Nigeria’s two major religions – Christians and Muslims- were through with their spiritual seasons.
Fayemi had argued that, given his deep spirituality and utmost respect for the sensibilities of Nigerians on issues of religion, it would be utterly insensitive to begin to make bold political statements during the period of Lent or Ramadan Season, the reason he would wait until Lenten period and Ramadan season were over.
His latest moves also followed the report that APC governors are seriously canvassing the ticket for one of their members.
READ ALSO: APC Govs Demand 2023 Presidential Ticket, Upset Tinubu, Osinbajo
This year’s Eid-el-Fitri (Sallah) comes up on Monday May 2, 2022 through Tuesday May 3, to mark the end of the Ramadan Fast, two weeks after the Easter celebrations. The Ekiti State Governor’s May 4 date when he would be declaring for Presidency therefore comes after the seasons as indicated by Governor Fayemi.
