A crisis is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West, as former Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose mobilizes the support of four state executives of the party against Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state ahead of the election to produce zonal Chairman of the Party.
Fayose on Wednesday met with chairmen of the party in Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos States; Sikirullahi Ogundele, Sunday Akanfe, Bisi Kolawole and Deji Doherty at Ogun state where they resolved to support former zonal Chairman, Eddy Olafeso against the candidate of Makinde.
The former Ekiti Governor argued that Olafeso, who only spent two years in the position following court cases should be allowed to return to the post, a position that do not go down with Makinde, who was said to have his own anointed candidate for the role.
Speaking after the meeting, Fayose said his camp has majority of the delegates on their side, and the national leadership of the party should allow for a free and fair election, rather than have Makinde have his way.
He said, “In our attempt to be able to avoid problems in the (South) West, it becomes very necessary to meet with the leadership of the Party in Abuja. We have over times seen a few things going wrong and I want to avoid allowing it get into the public, I felt it is proper to see the leadership of the Party.
“Politics is local and it’s about the people, you can’t govern people from another state even while we conced leadership to whoever is the Governor, when I was the Governor it was officially conceded that I remained the leader of the Party, I have finished my tenure and till today, we have a structure and till tomorrow, by the grace of God, that structure is leading.
“There has been a reasonable cold war regarding who and who becomes the executive of the zone, Governor Makinde has demanded that the executive be sacked and a caretaker be foisted on the zone which the party did, but since the caretaker came into being he has not allowed them to function because he produced the Chairman.
“Beyond that, the fact that there’s a sitting Governor does not say I should go to another state, nobody can come to my state, if you come to my state, I will face you squarely.
“I will continue to respect him (Makinde) but the fact remains that we have leadership but not by executive power in the state, every state is governed by their own leaders.”
A communique issued by the four PDP state chairmen in attendance declared their support for Olafeso. They insisted on free, fair and violent free election.
The communique reads in part, “It must be noted that each state has its own leaders as politics is local and it’s leadership structure must be respected, but no state is ruled or governed by another.
“It has been established and a decision is taken that the existing zoning formulae in the zone for the zonal executives of the party should not be tampered with. Our position is that any other formulae for the zone in the South West will not be acceptable to us.
“We seize this opportunity to let the National Working Committee know that it is nothing but free, fair, transparent and no violence congress is what is acceptable to us and we are ready to comply with all legitimate processes to determine the outcome of the zonal congress.
“The Eddy Olafeso led zonal executive only spent two years from November 2017 till date, should be allowed to complete the very credible job they’ve commenced in the South West. The team must be allowed to complete their tenure.
“We reject any style of leadership that dies not respect democratic norms. Everybody must be carried along for the same of equity and fairness.”
