As outrage continues to trail the advertorial placed by the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, stating that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is terminally ill and might soon die, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the governor’s view does not represent the position of the party or the views of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Disassociating PDP and the president from the controversial advertisement, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaigns, Chief Femi Fani Kayode, said Fayose did not speak for the president and the PDP as a political party and that the content of the advertisement did not represent the position of the party.
According to Fani-Kayode, “Fayose is a distinguish leader of our party. A democratically-elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for and he released this advert in his own name.
“That represents his own personal opinion which he is entitled to, that is what I can tell you on our part as the presidential campaign organisation. It does not represent the opinion of the presidential campaign organisation or indeed the president, it is his opinion which he is entitled to.
“I have spoken with him and we respect him but for any body to suggest that this is the position of the presidential campaign organisation or President Goodluck Jonathan, that will be most unfair. If we wanted to say something like that we will say it without any kind of apology but of course… we will never say that because we believe in the sanctity of life and age is not a function of how long you will live.”
The spokesman of PDP presidential campaign further said: “We believe strongly that we must continue to show immense respect to the person of Buhari in terms of his person and health, though we believe it is important to always raise question about facts, you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them.”
Speaking on Buhari’s health, he stated: “We do not wish him ill, we do not wish him dead, we wish him long life and we believe strongly that such sentiments can be aired by individuals certainly not in our name.
“Fayose never said that he was speaking on behalf of President Jonathan but for his own self and he said he issued it in his name. And I have emphasised that that is his opinion and he is entitled to it.
“I could only disown if if a statement was purportedly made on our behalf and in fairness to him, he never said that, what is important is to emphasise the fact that his position does not represent our position on this. He is entitled to that position.”
Asked to clarify whom he speaks for, Fani-Kayode said: “I speak for the presidential campaign organisation and it is very important to recognise the fact that we can only control what we put out from here. It is not for us to be telling others what to say. If we feel that what somebody has said has gone too far, we have to clarify the position.
On whether the party would sanction Fayose for such ‘provocative’ statement, Fani-Kayode said: “We may express our concerns privately. We will not do that publicly with a senior member of our party who is a loyal and steadfast supporter of President Jonathan. We cannot be held responsible for the words of others.”
Meanwhile, the APC has described Fayose as a threat to the security and unity of the country.
Submitting that the governor’s action was capable of pushing the country to the precipice, the party berated him for acting in most unstatesmanly way, at a time Jonathan and Buhari had to sign a peace pact on the need to ensure a violence-free electoral process.
At a press conference in Ado Ekiti, the APC state Publicity Secretary, Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun, said the party had written a petition to President Jonathan and other security chiefs on the need to tame the governor for Nigeria to be at peace.