A former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, says that despite his admiration for President Bola Tinubu, he “will never” accept an offer of a ministerial position.
Having spent six weeks in office since his inauguration, Tinubu has yet to disclose his choice of ministers.
There has been much speculation over the possible naming of members of the People’s Democratic Party considered to be instrumental to his emergence as president.
Fayose, who made a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, expressed his support for the President, saying, “I didn’t start to work for Asiwaju today,” though he is a longstanding member of the opposition.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart argued that his show of solidarity with Tinubu, one of the powerbrokers of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was “not for party politics but for my belief in his person”.
“Let me tell you, I am not looking for a position,” he added.
Asked if he would accept a hypothetical ministerial job offer from Tinubu, the former governor said, “I will never take it.”
He explained that “many of us who have reached the age of 70, almost 65, and above” should be asked to “go and bring our children, our grown-up children, well educated”.
Fayose is 62 years old.
“Already, their future has been stolen. The future of these young people has been stolen. They have run over their time with our time,” he added.
“Let me tell you very straightforwardly, if the future is for these young people, Asiwaju, in my own view—and I shared this with him and I say it again—it should be 40 percent for oldies like us, 30 percent for women, and 30 percent for young people.”
According to him, a majority of the older generation of politicians has had a taste of government “more than three, four, or five times”.
