I won’t fight anyone —Fayose

EKITI State governor-elect, Mr Ayodele Fayose, on Sunday, declared his readiness to pursue peace with all stakeholders in the state, irrespective of political party affiliation. Making his resolve known at a media parley in Lagos, he noted that his perceived negative image outside the state was contrived by his political enemies and amplified by a section of the media. He pointed out that his landslide over the incumbent, Governor Kayode Fayemi, had shown that the media- projected bad-boy image was surreal, because it was just natural that his people in Ekiti would be in a better position to know the “real him.” He called for objectivity from the media, noting that no amount of propaganda would change the realities and facts about personalities as demonstrated by the Ekiti people in voting massively for him, despite all the name-calling by the opposition. Insisting that “perception is not reality,” he buttressed the stance with the outcome of the governorship election in the three villages making up Fayemi’s home-town, where the incumbent lost in two, winning only in his village. “The perception is that the governor performed, but the reality on ground was different from the propaganda in the media and social platforms. All the National Assembly members lost in their domains, but the propaganda out there about their performance was different. “I have resolved to be at peace with all. You can see that during the campaign, I didn’t abuse anyone. They were the ones saying ‘Fayose is a killer, he is this, he is that.’ I won’t fight with anyone. I have told the governor, I would work with him in and out of office. “In carrying out developmental agenda, there could be positive disagreement, but I won’t answer whoever is abusing me or calling me names. I will just focus on delivering democracy gains to my people,” he said. He also explained why he had an agreement with his deputy governor-elect not to run for governorship after his tenure in 2018, saying he didn’t want needless politicking to becloud his agenda for the next four years. He, however, hinted that his deputy could aspire for National Assembly seat, either in the Senate or the House of Representatives. He also questioned the creation of local development councils by Fayemi at the twilight of his tenure, declaring them unconstitutional.