The former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has provided clarification on his appearance as a Guest Speaker at the Lagos Business School Breakfast meeting, stating that he did so in his capacity as the Director of Policy for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Organisation, and not as a representative of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

His media aide, Olayinka Oyebode, in a statement issued on Wednesday, stated that the thrust of Fayemi’s discussion at the breakfast session focused on the campaign manifesto of the APC and how it was marketed to the electorate during the electioneering period.

The statement, which fell short of disclosing in specifics what the former governor told his audience, said: “The discussion did not focus on the policies of the incoming administration.”

The statement added: “Conversely your reporter’s claim that Dr Fayemi discussed the incoming administration’s blueprint for fuel pricing, timing for the composition of the cabinet, CBN, FIRS, anti-corruption bodies, 2015 budgets among others were not part of Dr. Fayemi’s presentation at the event.”

Despite Fayemi’s clarification, THISDAY stands by its story published on Wednesday in which it stated that the Buhari administration intends to remove fuel subsidies, rationalise the public sector, and appoint a cabinet within one week of the president-elect’s swearing-in, among other issues.

Indeed, other than THISDAY source, who provided a detailed narrative of what was discussed at the breakfast meeting, two lecturers of the LBS who were present at the session called THISDAY on Wednesday confirming the authenticity of our story, complaining, however, that what was discussed was strictly confidential and should not have been published.

Buttressing their point, a letter was written and sent via email to THISDAY from LBS yesterday stressing that the issues discussed were not meant for “public consumption”.

Signed by the Communications Officer of the school, Francis Jakpor, it said: “Our attention has been drawn to a story with the above headline (Re: Buhari to End Fuel Subsidy, Rationalise MDAs) on your website which is currently trending. However, we must emphasise that publishing the story is unethical because like every Editor/Reporter knows, our Breakfast Club is exclusive and issues discussed are not meant for public consumption.

"Ex-Governor Fayemi whose quote is the subject of the story is rightly aggrieved. Also, this story calls our credibility to question because as the bastion of ethics, our word should be our bond that there is a non-disclosure agreement for information relayed during Breakfast sessions. Going forward, members of the Club will be reluctant to attend or even volunteer information at Breakfast sessions because of this story.

"We strongly insist that this story be recalled to prevent further spread of information which is damaging to our credibility.”