Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State, has given former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar 48 hours to publicly disown a statement issued by one of his media aides about his recent meeting with Ibrahim Babangida in Minna.
Fayose issued the ultimatum in a post on X on Thursday.
He described the response by Paul Ibe, one of Atiku’s media aides, as “amusing.” However, he said he would assume Atiku did not authorise it.
“Because of my respect for Atiku, I will want to assume that he did not authorise the press statement,” Fayose said.
“I will expect that after seeing it, he will, within 48 hours, cause a rebuttal to be issued on it.”
He warned that if Atiku fails to publicly disown the statement within that period, he will release more details about the Minna meeting.
“Should Atiku not publicly disown the statement within the next 48 hours, I will have no option but to spill more beans — the facilitators and executioners — of the Minna meeting, particularly what was said about Wike,” he said.
“Till then, we keep our gunpowder dry.”
Background
The dispute began after a meeting held on Tuesday in Minna, Niger State.
Atiku and Seyi Makinde, Oyo state governor, paid separate visits to Ibrahim Babangida at his residence. Atiku arrived shortly after 1 p.m. and held a closed-door meeting with the former military president. Makinde joined later.
Atiku did not disclose the full agenda of the meeting. However, he later said he visited Niger State to strengthen the structures of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of future elections.
Fayose gave a different account.
He claimed the meeting focused on the ADC’s 2027 presidential race.
The former Ekiti state governor alleged that Makinde demanded the ADC vice-presidential ticket as a condition for joining the party.
Fayose went further to allege that the Oyo governor promised financial support for the party’s take-off.
Atiku rejected the claims. Through a statement issued by his aide, he described Fayose’s allegations as “beer-parlour tales of infamy.”
He denied negotiating over a vice-presidential ticket or discussing financial commitments.
Atiku said the meeting involved no zoning arrangements, no delegate guarantees, and no clandestine agreements, urging the public to disregard Fayose’s claims.
