Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said if were to be in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s shoes when the decision to contest the 2015 presidential election was being taken, he would not have stood for the poll.
Fayose, in an interview with Premium Times, said the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party to field Jonathan for the election led to its loss in the poll.
He said ordinarily based on the position of the party, the North ought to have produced the party’s candidate for the election.
Adducing reasons why he would not have contested the election if he were in Jonathan’s shoes, Fayose told Premium Times: “The fact is that my former president, I chose my word, my former president, Goodluck Jonathan, tried his best.
“But if I were him, I would not have contested at all.
“You understand?
“Because it is two ways: if he did not contest and the PDP lost out, he will still be an honourable man.
“And if he had given that opportunity to the North, those who defected from the PDP would not have defected.
“But that is history.”
Fayose, who was asked by the online newspaper if he was in support of the decision of a committee headed by the Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, to zone the slot for the PDP’s presidential candidate for the 2019 election to the North, said: “You see, time will take care of that.
“In the first place, we lost the election because we did not pick our candidate from the North, not because Jonathan as a person was bad.
“It was just a political miscalculation.”
Fayose heaped encomium on Jonathan, saying no matter what, he would stand by the former President.
He said: “Jonathan did his best and I will still continue to support him.
“You know I was not there when they took the decision about him becoming the flag-bearer, but it doesn’t matter.
“We can’t all put our mouth inside the soil.
“Somebody must remain with somebody.
“I will remain with Jonathan even if I am the only man standing.
“A man is not measured by the amount of food you have and the amount of properties you own.
“Sometimes sickness is good.
“It reshapes your life.
“Sometimes poverty is good.
“It helps your life.
“Sometimes failure makes you to reorder your life.
“It is not the end of your life.”
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