CRISIS is about to rock the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the appointment of two persons as chairman of the party in the state.
Earlier reports had indicated that the party had appointed Alaba Agboola as its substantive chairman in the state.
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Agboola, who is believed to be loyal to the Senator representing Ekiti South senatorial district, Biodun Olujimi, was announced as the chairman in a statement jointly signed by the party’s deputy chairman, Lanre Omolase, and secretary, Funmi Ogun, on Monday morning.
According to the statement, Agboola’s appointment was rectified by the State Executive Council (SEC).
But in a swift reaction, the party in a statement by its spokesperson, Raphael Wumi Adeyanju, rejected Agboola’s appointment.
Adeyanju, while indicating that Agboola’s appointment was facilitated by the former Governor of Ekiti State Ayo Fayose, urged the party faithful to ignore the appointment.
“This is to inform the general public that purported appointment of the State PDP Party Chairman by the former Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose should be ignored in its totality since he cannot put something on nothing,” she said.
She said that the entire process of appointment of the party chairman was exclusively the responsibility of the SEC, which comprises all major stakeholders of the party numbering about 60.
Adeyanju hinted that the SEC members were meeting as at the time she issued the rebuttal around 10:00 am on Monday.
However, in another statement she issued on Monday afternoon, the party announced the appointment of the former chairman, Ado Local Government Area, who was also the party’s deputy governorship candidate in 2018, Deji Ogunsakin, as the new state chairman.
In the statement which was seen by The ICIR, Adeyanju said that Ogunsakin’s appointment was rectified by the party’s SEC at its meeting in Ado Ekiti on Monday.
She noted that the appointment was in line with Section 47(6) of the party constitution which states that “where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the party, the Executive Committee at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where the officer originated from, to serve out the tenure of the officer”.
She added that the ratification by SEC was sequel to Ogunsakin’s nomination by 10 out of 12 members of the SEC from the Central Senatorial District.
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