Former Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi has claimed he would have emerged Nigeria’s president if he had not stepped down for Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Fayemi made the statement during an interview on the State Affairs podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo and published on YouTube on Thursday.
During the conversation, the host suggested that Fayemi could have won the presidency if he had remained in the race for the APC ticket.
Responding to the remark, the former governor agreed with the suggestion.
Fayemi was among several aspirants who contested the All Progressives Congress presidential ticket before eventually stepping down for Tinubu ahead of the party’s 2022 primary election.
The former governor also spoke about a recent encounter involving Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and President Tinubu during the inauguration ceremony of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in May.
According to Fayemi, he and Obi attended the event as Catholics and were seated a few rows behind Tinubu.
He revealed that Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu first encouraged them to greet the president before he personally persuaded Obi to join him.
“Peter, please let us go,” Fayemi said he told Obi.
Fayemi disclosed that Obi was initially reluctant because he feared the interaction could be misrepresented publicly, but eventually agreed.
According to him, Tinubu responded humorously when they approached him.
“The president is quick witted,” Fayemi said.
“He immediately retorted, ‘Kayode, what are you saying? I should be the one welcoming you because I am the leader of the Nigerian delegation.'”
Fayemi said Obi then acknowledged Tinubu as the delegation’s leader and thanked him for attending the event.
The former governor also used the interview to compare Tinubu’s handling of fuel subsidy removal with that of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking recently at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja, Fayemi argued that Jonathan failed to remove fuel subsidy because he could not withstand political pressure at the time.
He, however, praised Tinubu for implementing the policy immediately after assuming office despite the backlash and economic difficulties that followed.
