Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has declared his interest to contest the 2023 presidency.
He made his interest to contest for the office of the President in the 2023 general elections known at the Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the nation’s capital city.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) his decision to join the growing list of presidential aspirants was not easy after rounds of consultation.
Fayemi disclosed that his aspiration was premised on fostering trust and building bridges to carry Nigeria into a new dawn, promising to build on the infrastructural successes of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. 
The governor added that he has the required experience needed for the presidency having occupied several political positions in the country.
Naija News has now obtained the full statement of Fayemi’s declaration speech read before a crowd of party supporters at the event.
The statement reads: “Beyond my early forays into the public sphere as a student leader, my abiding faith in the oneness of our country has been further reinforced by all my subsequent engagements in national affairs as a scholar, civil society voice and institution-builder, community and political organiser with an unapologetic pan-Nigerian and pan-African outlook, tireless advocate for human rights and democratic governance, two-term governor, federal minister, a founding Coordinator of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, and two-term Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
“Here then is my motivating testament and confession: I am a patriot born in these climes in the course of the first decade of our country’s independence, and I stake a bold claim to say that I am a full-blooded child of Nigeria. I grew up as did many of my generation socialised into the ideals of a united and virile nation. In my lifetime, I have witnessed some heart-warming moments of nation- and state-building that would make any citizen anywhere immeasurably proud.
“But I have also seen some truly challenging days in our journey of nationhood which have tested our collective resolve and demanded the exercise of considerable political savvy by our leaders over the years. I have taken as a key lesson from the admixture of high and low points we have experienced as a country that when and where we are charitable to one another and allow our shared humanity, innate spirit of solidarity, hard work, perseverance and underlying patriotism to prevail, we always succeed in overcoming and thriving through adversity.
“Hope such as I offer with my candidature is premised on a shared vision on which we can all agree, and for which we collectively strive, of a nation that is more confidently and uncompromisingly at one with itself, serving as home for all of us regardless of ethnicity, class, gender, age, disability, region or religion.
“Being the coordinator of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) and two-time chairman of the NGF, I have been privileged to witness first-hand the underlying commitment and sense of solidarity which Nigerians from all parts of the country share about the promise of our fatherland,” he said.
“It has been my singular honour to have been an active part at various times with other compatriots from various walks of life labouring for sustained national progress.
“Dear compatriots, it is in the spirit of this abiding faith in our country and the promise of its unfinished greatness that I stand before you today, in total humility and in all sense of responsibility, to solemnly declare to all within our party and Nigerians at large the decision to accept my name to be put forward for consideration by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership as the standard-bearer in the upcoming contest as successor to our leader President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This is not a decision which I have taken lightly. To arrive at this point I carried out a deep and long self-introspection with the help of my wife, Bisi, other family members, my friends, my political associates, and members of our great party.
“I have also traversed the length and breadth of our country to consult without esteemed elder statesmen and women, traditional rulers, a cross-section of party leaders and rank and file members of our party and various no partisan leaders of thought and opinion.
“I embarked on these outreach visits without any prior assumptions of what they will yield nor with any sense of personal entitlements. I have been privileged to witness firsthand the underlined commitment and sense of solidarity that Nigerians from all parts of our country share about the promise of our fatherland.“
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