Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State’s style of running the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his state is beginning to worry the National Executive Committee of the party.
The worry was said to have followed the motion raised by Senator Abiodun Olujimi, who represents Ekiti South Senatorial District in the Senate at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party held at the PDP headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Olujimi was said to have raised the issue of how the governor has been treating members of the party he believes do not belong to his camp in the state.
A source at the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The senator itemised what has been happening in the state. She said some indigenes of the state have been harassed and beaten by members of the PDP in the state and wondered how the party would go into the election with a divided house.”
The spokesperson for the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, confirmed the development while briefing journalists after the over six-hour meeting.
Adeyeye said Olujimi raised the matter at the meeting with a warning that the party would lose the 2018 governorship election in the state if Fayose was not cautioned.
Olujimi, Adeyeye and some members of the party in the state had complained about how Fayose imposed his deputy, Prof. Olusola Eleka, as the party’s governorship candidate for the election.
The governor was also said to have unilaterally set age limit for the candidates of the party in the forthcoming local government election in the state.
He was also said to have used the Government House as the venue for the party’s primaries for the election.
According to Adeyeye, the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the party, Ahmed Makarfi, expressed worry over the matter.
He said the former governor of Kaduna State told the NEC members that the issue was being looked into.
The former minister of state for works said, “Senator Olujimi raised the issue of what is happening in Ekiti State. She raised the many constitutional violations and acts of impunity of the governor which she brought to the attention of the PDP NEC members.
“The chairman (Makarfi) said that certain actions were being taken on these issues in order to avoid catastrophic reactions in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.”
Adeyeye also said that the meeting granted waivers to those who recently joined the party from Anambra and Oyo states.
Specifically, he said a former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, and a former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Mr. Seyi Makinde, were among those granted waivers by the PDP NEC.
Apart from them, he said all those who left the Accord Party and the SDP to join the PDP in the state had been granted waivers.
He added that the meeting agreed on the December 9 date for the convention, which he said would hold in Abuja.
On the budget for the convention, he said, “It is the PDP’s budget and not that of Nigeria. So, I won’t tell you the amount.”
Credit: punchng.com
