I Am Not Eyeing The Presidency..Peter Esele

The immediate past president of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Peter Esele, has taken a swipe against a report announcing his presidential ambition, saying he had no such plan.

Esele, reacting to the report published on Monday, said he had attended to a deluge of phone calls from friends and well wishers who thought he had a real ambition immediately the story went into circulation.

What he said led to the said ambition was a private chat he had with the writer of the story, whom he called a friend, adding that all the issues raised, which now formed the crux of the story were what they joked about and laughed off.

He said he actually had a light private chat with the writer of the story, who walked up to him and asked: “Comrade, what do you want now after office?”

“So, I told him to come and make me the president of Nigeria now and we all laughed it off. That was just it,” Esele said.

He said his response was a joke which he didn’t expect would make headline in a newspaper.

Then on his plan to introduce ex-Brazilian President, Lula Da Silva’s model for governance, Esele said what he told the writer of the story was that the development witnessed during Da Silva’s tenure in Brazil could be replicated in Nigeria.

I think the writer just took the word “development” out of context, I have no ambition to become Nigeria’s president,” Esele said.

“It is not in my radar, the writer took things out of context, and he took it too far. Presidency? Absolutely not in my radar at all.

“When you even talk about politics, I’ve not made up my mind whether to go in or not.

“Then the idea of whether the president called me that I should join his party, I think all of these are normal, it is a joking matter.

“I had been approached by other parties, the president has the right to get more members for his party, just like other parties want to get more members, I don’t  see anything wrong in that and I don’t think it is something that should make headlines, the reporter knows better, Esele said.

Then on his meeting with the former Brazilian president, he said he met him as he was also a former labour leader.

“I was invited by former Brazilian president when he visited Nigeria, we were at a hotel in Lagos, at a private session, we talked about development in Brazil, and if you take a look at my May Day speech, you would know I actually took a lot from him.

“We had a series of discussion and felt his model can be replicated in Nigeria, if well implemented, as I am of the opinion that development is doing the right thing on a long run, and not as an ad hoc arrangement,” Esele said.