Read the full interview granted by Fayose, in The Guardian on Sunday, entitled, “Fayose: President Buhari has put Nigeria under siege” under:

As Chairman of PDP’s Governors’ Forum, what will be your major preoccupations and things you will do differently from your predecessors?

Let me appreciate my other colleagues for trusting me and giving me opportunity to lead them and to serve as the chairman of the Forum. I want to appreciate Governor Olusegun Mimiko for his contributions to the development of the party, as the immediate past chairman of the Forum. I want to assure the Forum that we shall put in our best. We will represent them well and we shall deliver.

My preoccupation is to ensure that the PDP, as a party, conquers the challenges that came after losing the general election in 2015. We have to ensure that the party is un-cowed. As it is now, most party members do not know how to face tomorrow. They need all the encouragement and assurances. We need to lead them by example, and show them that losing the election is not the end of the world or the end of life. There are two ways an election could be won. An election could be won with the people. It is purely the business of the party, but what the incumbent ruling party fails to do is affecting people’s lives. Today, the APC is not representing the interests of Nigerians very well. As a result, the people can rise up to take the right given to the ruling party and give it to another party.

Our politics has suffered a major set back, since the advent of Buhari administration. Power can be retrieved from the ruling party, if Nigerians stand their ground and confront the ruling party, as we have seen in some African countries that rejected dictatorship and leaders perpetuating themselves in power. The small political parties came together to take the power. It is not only the political parties that have what it takes to take power.

Largely, my assignment is to put the party together, stand up for the party, and give hope to those that have lost hope in the party. I am going to work very hard, and provide good leadership. People fail not because they fell, but because they failed to rise after falling. Today, some members of our party are defecting to other parties, because they are cowards. They are fair weather politicians. They are not principled. A lot of people that were in the vanguard in the PDP before, and who are supposed to be the leaders to follow, have now become like chaff in the wind. They have lost their voice, and have become so weakened they cannot stand up for anything again.

In Nigeria, we have seen so many leaders come and go. Buhari came into power in 1984. We were here, when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen Sani Abacha took over power. We cannot forget in a hurry the Obasanjo regime and his atrocities, the Halliburton scandal and the third term agenda. But they were all defeated, because the only thing that is constant in life is change, and above all, power does not come from man.

So, I will do all within my power to serve along with others. Where we are supposed to blow hot, we shall not hesitate to do so, and where we are supposed to expose the ruling party’s hypocrisy, we will. Our duty is to expose their recklessness. However, wherever we need to praise them, we shall do so, though we are yet to see anything commendable. This government has failed Nigerians and we shall not hesitate to let the whole world know the administration’s cluelessness.

Some people have been asking why it’s only me talking. But it is only Daniel that refused to compromise, just as it was only Shederach, Messach and Abedenego that dared to oppose the bad policies of the King and survived the burning fire. It was only Joseph during his time, and the Bible recorded their names for their bravery to fight for their people. Moses stood up for the children of Israel in captivity. Against all odds, and the paramount ruler of terror, he stood his ground. Why didn’t Pharaoh grant Israelites their freedom, until he perished with his army? He who the gods want to destroy, they first make mad.

PDP was in government for 16 years. How does feel to play in opposition?

The issue is not whether I enjoy the role of opposition. I am a straightforward person. I was a governor before; I fell and rose again. Some cannot live like an ordinary man. They cannot identify with the ordinary man on the street again. When some people leave office, they cannot survive without the paraphernalia of office. Personally, I am ready to ride on okada and can sleep with my friends in any house. I can ride on a commercial bus. I don’t consider myself above anybody, just because of office. This is my lifestyle.

Leaders were human beings before assuming power. The arrogant ones did not become so overnight. Those that are not accommodating were like that before assuming office. I am not one to look for relevance or praises from men. After leaving office, I lived among my people in Ekiti for eight years. I am not condemning anybody for living anywhere they choose to, I am only telling you my story.

My children were attending Olashore Private School, but after becoming Governor, I withdrew them from Olashore and enrolled them in a public school in Ekiti. There is nothing new to me and there is nothing new that I am looking for. The abundance of man is not in the material things he possesses. I must thank God for giving a second opportunity to consolidate on what I could not finish the first time.

What was the deal the party had with Senator Ali Modu Sheriff that made the crisis look unresolvable?

In every situation we find ourselves, we must thank God. My initial support for Ali Modu Sheriff was done in good faith, just as my backing out was also done in good faith. Yes, we might have raised his hope, but when we saw what we didn’t see before, we had to reappraise our stand. It is better to take a decision than to crash together. I never denied the fact that we were the ones that encouraged him, but with due respect to him as a former governor, there was no deal.

What can you give me as a governor? They said I wanted to be Vice President. How can, when I am yet to fully serve the mandate my people gave me? That is cheap blackmail. I have never seen a man that contested for the office of Vice President. It is God that puts a man in office. I want to say that despite all these challenges, the PDP is still a sleeping lion. We still have our structures everywhere. The harassment going on cannot last, the blackmail called anti-corruption war is losing its face, and people do not take them serious anymore.

Nigerians have seen through their hypocrisy. So, what is sweet today might not be sweet tomorrow, what appears oppressive today might become freedom tomorrow. Nigeria is a very dynamic country. The mountain you see today might not be a mountain tomorrow, after all. People should stop bothering themselves about what cannot endure. Let us watch how things will play out in our country.

As an elder statesman and professed man of God, why do you find it difficult to forgive former President Olusegun Obasanjo?

Honestly, I don’t like talking about OBJ. It is not a matter of whether I forgive OBJ or not. He is one man God gave another chance like me, and for that, I respect him. But he does not have permanent followers. Obasanjo can sleep on your bed today and cut your head tomorrow. If you want to sleep with Obasanjo, you must keep your two eyes opened, and not just one.

If you study his comments, you will see that he wants to be the only man to be heard and noticed in this country. If not that he knows the enormous power Buhari wields, he would have been running his mouth against him. But he knows the meaning of power and that Buhari and his men will deal with him. They will open his books and you know what that means.

Is it still possible for two of you to work together?

Working together as what? If at all we are in the same party, God forbids, he will be in his state and I will be in Ekiti State. Politics is played at local level and if you look at the likes of Obasanjo, they only have the voice, but they don’t have followers. Who are Obasanjo’s followers? If the man ruled Nigeria for eight years, out of 16 years of PDP in government, after all his atrocities, the Halliburton scandal, the library he built and he is still bent on destroying the party, what kind of a man is he? We should fear God. Obasanjo is a man who uses peculiar method to cover his tracks. He is not a good man.