5th March, 2020
Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state and Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, said his actions as a peacemaker and conciliator are not geared towards taking over from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
He described as untrue, reports that he is working clandestinely towards building structures to prosecute his “rumored presidential ambition in 2023”.
Speaking through Segun Dipe, his senior special assistant on public communications, Fayemi said he is not in the league of those working towards the next presidential election.
“Fayemi is a sitting governor and he chairs the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. He enjoys these roles and he is playing them to the best of his ability,” the statement read.
“His objective is that of engaging in processes such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, and arbitration in order to move a seemingly violent conflict into non-violent dialogue, where differences are settled through conflict transformation processes or through the work of representative political institutions.
“He is interested in what is happening in every part of the country and, like he himself once stated, anything that affects the peace of any state governed by a member of the NGF would surely affect the solidarity of the forum.
“People like Fayemi bring people together. You find them in all kinds of places and in all kinds of circumstances. They are very lovable people who wish the very best for other people. Despite that his action as a peacemaker and conciliator means a lot to other people, the governor is a modest person and he is focused on other people’s happiness.
“As a bridge builder, Fayemi is never pushy; he just wants everyone around him to find peace and achieve happiness. The governor no doubt knows a lot of people and doesn’t fail to bring everybody together; he listens carefully and is sincerely interested in how everyone is doing.
“Like any other bridge-builder in the world, Fayemi likes to help to connect people, he is quick at recognising what someone else needs and his mind starts searching for ways to help the other person move ahead.”