Fayose: why I may not respect Atiku again
Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose on Friday, said he would reveal more details about the visits of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Oyo State Seyi Makinde to Minna,
Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose on Friday, said he would reveal more details about the visits of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Oyo State Seyi Makinde to Minna, Niger State, home of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida.
The former governor had alleged that Atiku and Makinde discussed the possibility of selecting the Oyo governor as running mate in next year's presidential poll, when he picks the Afican Democratic Party (ADC) ticket.
Fayose also alleged that Makinde agreed to run as Atiku’s vice-presidential candidate with a promise to provide ₦10 billion in contributions.
However, Atiku dismissed the claims, describing Fayose as a serial political gossip, urging the public to disregard his “beer parlour tales of infamy” on the vice-presidential ticket.
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The ADC stalwart said in a statement by his aides that Fayose's account amounted to an "insider's friction'
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The statement read, "There were no negotiations over vice-presidential tickets. There were no discussions about ₦10 billion contributions. There were no zoning manipulations. There were no delegate-delivery guarantees. And there is certainly no clandestine “Dubai meeting” on any such agenda.
“The attempt to drag other political actors into this fabricated beer parlour tale does not elevate its credibility; it merely exposes the desperation behind it.
“His Excellency Atiku Abubakar’s political engagements are broad-based, principled, and national in scope — not the narrow, transactional theatrics invented in that publication.
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“It is unfortunate that certain individuals, long deprived of credibility and political gravitas, now attempt to manufacture relevance by inventing tales around serious national figures. Falsehood may trend for a moment, but it collapses under the weight of truth.
“Atiku Abubakar does not transact politics in secrecy, bribery, or transactional desperation as mischievously and irresponsibly portrayed. He remains focused on principled engagement and national redemption — not backroom theatrics designed by attention-seekers.”
Fayose, in his reaction to Atiku’s respinse, promised to release more details about the Minna meeting, if the former vice president fails to disown the statement.
He said, "I saw the response of one Paul Ibe, one of the Media Aides to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to my release on what transpired at his (Atiku) meeting in Minna, with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and I can't but be amused.
"However, because of my respect for Atiku, I will want to assume that he did not authorise the press statement and I will expect that after seeing it, he will within 48 hours, cause a rebuttal to be issued on it."
Fayose added, "Should Atiku not publicly disown the statement within the next 48 hours, I will have no option but to spill more beans (the facilitors and executioners) of the Minna meeting, particularly what was said about Wike) and by then, I will be doing so without any atom of respect for him.
"Till then, we keep our gunpowder dry."
