Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade says he will rather throw his weight behind former President Goodluck Jonathan if the ruling All Progressives Congress picks him as its presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections.
Speculations have been rife that Jonathan may run for the presidency next year on the APC platform.
Ayade stated this on Tuesday in Abuja while addressing State House Correspondents shortly after joining the 2023 race. He is the only APC governor in the South South.
He vowed to stand by the decision of the party even if the outcome of the primaries is not in his favour.
The Cross River State governor said, “I have great respect for President Jonathan and so I have no challenges whatsoever. I believe that the party leadership will decide on the appropriate candidate that will take our party to victory.
“And so, if you heard me well, I am just part of the family absolutely loyal to the president, seeking to run for the president. And I am running. But at any point in time that the political leadership of my party, the APC feels that President Jonathan is the appropriate candidate that will actually take us take us to victory, I will turn my support for him.
“I am never, ever going to fight the establishment, the institution, the aristocracy, the spiritual vortex of which God has placed a leader of a country. I will never question the powers of the leader of a country. I have never played a politics of antagonism or fight. If you know how I became governor, I came governor by offering to support whoever the governor wants and by stroke of luck, I became the candidate.
Ayade further said, “By the same token, I am only here to support the president’s candidate and by a stroke of luck, he said, you too go there and join the race and let me see.”