Former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has reacted to his ministerial nomination.
Fayemi, who spoke journalists at the All Progress Congress (APC) National Secretariat, on Tuesday, said that his nomination as a minister by President Buhari came as a surprise.Fayemi, who stated that he was with President Buhari till about 4:00pm on the day the list was submitted to the Senate President, noted that the President never mentioned it to him that he was being considered for appointment.
Fayemi, was the Director of Research and Strategy of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
He said,
“Well, to the extent that I was not told by the President that I was going to be on his list, yes, it came as a surprise. The President is a surprise master, let me put it that way.
“He did not tell anyone to the best of my knowledge and I would have thought that I was in vantage position to know more than others. I was with him for five days before then, I was with him in New York at the United Nation General Assembly and he never said a word about his list to me nor to anyone else.
“We came back to Nigeria together, I was with him till 4:00pm on the evening he submitted the list to the President of the Senate and I didn’t have any clue of what is going to happen. So, to that extent I was pleasantly surprised.”
While describing the nomination as a call to service, Fayemi added: “One must thank the President for reposing confidence in us and we thank the party because when you look at the list, you will see that this is a galaxy of party men and women. These are people that have been very active and worked hard to ensure the victory of our party.
“And we also hold it as a duty to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians by the party. So it is a call to duty really, it involved a lot of work, service and sacrifice to Nigerians.”