Olujimi faults Fayose’s loyalists as ward executives

The senator representing Ekiti South in the National Assembly, Biodun Olujimi, has condemned the inauguration of the ward executives of the party by loyalists of the former Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, in the state without following due process.

Olujimi said the state leadership of the party had taken definite position on the controversy surrounding the conduct of the ward congress in Ekiti State by swearing in the authentic ward leaders on Friday, May 1, 2020 in line with court’s pronouncement and party’s constitution.

She described the inauguration done by Fayose’s loyalists on April 30, 2020 as illegal, null and void.

A statement by Chairman, Ekiti People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Repositioning Movement, Alaba Agboola, on behalf of Senator Olujimi, urged the party members to discountenance the said inauguration.

Olujimi insisted that the group inaugurated by Gboyega Oguntuase-led State Working Committee of the party was the authentic ward executive of the party in the state, saying: “Our attention has been drawn to a purported inauguration of ward executives in Ekiti State on April 30, 2020 by one Niyi Idowu who is based in Lagos and not a member of our party, PDP.

“We wish to state that no such inauguration ever took place in Ekiti State and we stand solidly by the position of the State Executive Committee of the party as expressed by Oguntuase that the purported inauguration has no basis in law and should be disregarded.”

“Our people should learn lessons from the pronouncement of our courts to the effect that only the state organ of a party can inaugurate its local chapters. This is the extant position of the law as pronounced by a High Court in Calabar just a few days ago. The true position of events in Ekiti State is that only the ward executives elected on March 7, 2020 conducted by the PDP and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and Section 85 and 86 of the Electoral Act remain authentic and have assumed to work as from May 1, 2020.

As the tenure of the last ward executive ended at midnight on April 30, 2020, the tenure of the authentic ward executives begins from today and they have been duly inaugurated and begun to function”.

Olujimi, who charged the new ward executives to carry every member of the party along in decision making and embark on aggressive mobilisation of all factions in their various wards to building a united, cohesive and well grounded PDP in Ekiti State, urged the new ward executives to begin to hold their meetings in line with government directives as it concerns COVID-19 pandemic.