Former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has claimed that he would have emerged as the President of Nigeria if he hadn’t stepped down for President Bola Tinubu in the build-up to the 2023 elections.
He made the claim during an interview on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo.
The host had made the claim in a statement addressed to Fayemi during the interview, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain affirmed the submission by saying yes.
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Meanwhile, Fayemi recently drew a comparison between former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and President Bola Tinubu’s approach to subsidy removal.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that Fayemi, while speaking at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja, reflected on Nigeria’s economic policies, leadership values, and the courage needed to make tough governance decisions.
Fayemi blamed Jonathan for lacking the courage to implement the removal of the fuel subsidy during his administration, despite having the support of key stakeholders at the time.
He revealed that, contrary to public perception, many governors under Jonathan’s administration, including himself, supported the removal of fuel subsidy, even though the then-opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), opposed it politically.
Fayemi criticised Jonathan for bowing to political pressure instead of standing firm on what he believed was an economically sound policy.
In contrast to Jonathan, Fayemi commended Tinubu for showing decisive leadership by ending the fuel subsidy from the first day of his administration, despite the economic and political backlash that followed.