From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, has distanced himself from the statement credited to him in a social media report that there would be no room for aspirants, who are above 60 years, to contest for president in 2023.
Makinde Araoye, the Special Adviser on Federal Matters to Governor Fayemi, was reported to have made the statement while speaking at a recent event.
But the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, in a statement titled: “Re: No Room For Presidential Aspirants Above 60 Years: A Disclaimer,” categorically declared that Araoye made the purported statement in his own capacity and not on behalf of Governor Fayemi.
The statement read in part: “The attention of the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has been drawn to a news report in the Blueprint Newspaper of March 26, 2021, which is also being circulated across social media with the headline “No Room for Presidential Aspirant above 60 years- Fayemi,” and other variants.