• Urges national leadership to expedite action on expulsion of ex-governor
• Directs council chapters to commence suspension of Fayose’s loyalists
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, dissociated members of the party from the purported endorsement of Ekiti State Governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, for a second term in office by former governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose.
Fayose had recently, during the celebration of his wife 60th birthday in Lagos, openly endorsed Oyebanji for a second term, saying that the governor has done well and deserves to run for second term.
The former governor had also made a similar endorsement of Oyebanji for a second term during a church service held to mark the one year anniversary of the governor in office in October last year.
However, the stakeholders of the party in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, condemned in totality the purported endorsement of Oyebanji by Fayose and his group in Lagos.
The stakeholders, consisting of leaders of the party drawn from the 16 local councils of the state, called on the national leadership of the party to completely expel the former governor and his followers that participated in the alleged shameful endorsement.
In the communiqué, which was read at the end of the meeting by former State Publicity Secretary of the party, Jackson Adebayo, warned members not to be carried away by the alleged antics of Fayose, saying that PDP is not for rent.
The party’s stakeholders also resolved that all the branches of the party at the council level should commence the process of suspension of any member of the party that followed Fayose in his alleged anti-party activities.
The Zonal Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Sanya Atofarati, who spoke at the parley, said that though the former governor had a right to support anyone for second term, such endorsement does not represent the position of the PDP at the state and national levels.
“We are not members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and we are not supporting Governor Oyebanji for a second term. We don’t see any significant thing he has done to warrant the endorsement. We in the South-West and the national leadership dissociate ourselves from Fayose’s purported endorsement.”
The meeting called for the unity of all members and groups within the party so that the party could reclaim its lost glory, saying that ward meetings should be held across the councils.
