Ministerial list: Wike an asset to Nigeria, Tinubu needs him – Fayose

A former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has urged President Bola Tinubu to appoint a former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike into his cabinet.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain gave the advice while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, saying “Wike is an asset to Nigeria, Asiwaju [Tinubu] needs a man like Wike.”

There have been romours of Wike, a PDP chieftain, making the President’s ministerial list but Fayose said nothing is wrong with it, adding that Wike is a courageous man who is not afraid to speak the truth.

Wike led a group of five governors in PDP who worked against the candidature of a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, during the 2023 presidential election, insisting that it was the turn of the South to produce the president of the country.

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Fayose, who was one of the first PDP members to call for a southern president, disclosed that he also worked against the candidature of Atiku in the 2023 presidential election.

“I never worked for PDP during the last election. I cannot work for two people at the same time,” he said.

“The reality is that I worked for Asiwaju (Tinubu). He is a respectable person from the South-West. It is the time of the South.”

Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, defeated Atiku in Fayose’s Ekiti State. Tinubu won in all 16 local government areas of the state.

Tinubu also won in 11 other states out of Nigeria’s 36 states. He scored a total of 8,794,726 votes almost two million votes more than Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 votes, and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who secured 6,101,533 votes.

Still speaking on the ministerial list, Fayose vowed not to accept a ministerial position from Tinubu.

He insisted that it was time for the old to give the younger generation space in government.

According to him, Tinubu’s cabinet should be 40 per cent for the old, 30 per cent for women, and 30 per cent for youths.