Former Ekiti State governor Ayodele Fayose announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, stating that he is stepping away from partisan politics. This announcement came just hours after the PDP lost the presidential election to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Fayose made his resignation public during an appearance on Arise TV, where he also disclosed that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had rejected a proposal from the aggrieved G-5 governors, which suggested that he should serve only one term in office.
In his resignation statement, Fayose declared, “From today, I stay off the PDP.” When asked if this constituted a formal resignation, he clarified, “I say it here, from today on, I step aside because I must be talking like a leader in this country.” He further explained that he had previously warned the PDP about impending issues, stating on his Twitter handle that if the problems were not addressed, they would ultimately consume the party. “I told them there was danger ahead. Watch it,” he added.
Fayose attributed the party’s electoral failure to the National Chairman, Iyiorcha Ayu, urging the PDP to accept defeat. He accused the party of sponsoring protests against the election results, claiming, “This Ayu was the one who led Atiku to the gutters. They took him to the gutters. You see when a man cannot come out. At 80, what does he want to do after that?”
In response to a video showing members of a Civil Society Organization protesting the election results in Abuja, Fayose criticized the protesters, asserting, “Let me first fault the people I saw here today, that are calling themselves civil society. No, they are PDP members.” He identified a speaker from the protest as Yusuf from Oyo State, a PDP member who contested in 2019, and noted that other participants were also affiliated with the PDP. Fayose suggested that these protests were orchestrated by the party to create the illusion of widespread dissatisfaction, claiming, “PDP has been sponsoring a lot of people to protest and giving them money. They go and carry people from somewhere; give them N1,000 each, and sometimes they will beat themselves.”
Regarding the upcoming governorship election in Lagos State, Fayose commented on the PDP candidate, describing the situation as “like people doing theatre to me.” He emphasized the seriousness of Lagos’s business environment and the challenges it faces, urging voters to support the current governor, Sanwo-Olu, and to distance themselves from the PDP.
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