Fayose, Olujimi battle for soul of PDP in Ekiti

The battle for the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ekiti State between ex-governor Ayodele Fayose and Senator Biodun Olujimi has continued to linger, without amicable settlement from both ends.

The ward congress held on March 7, 2020, was another factor that created a divided house within the opposition party in Ekiti State.

On Wednesday August 26, 2020, the local government elections further polarized the group as well as the state congress of the party to elect the state executive of the party; parallel executives were put in place by both camps.

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Ekiti PDP is presently divided against itself.

The loyalists of Senator Biodun Olujimi has since challenged the irregularities in the conduct of the ward congress which has snowball to a court matter till date.

The crisis may have started when some aggrieved members of the party who worked with Ayodele Fayose, decided to team-up with Senator Biodun Olujimi, who they see as a rallying point after she defeated Senator Dayo Adeyeye of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to clinch the Ekiti South Senatorial District seat.

Those members include Hon. Kehinde Odebunmi, Mr. Suyi Ogunsuyi, Senator Duro Faseyi, Rt. Hon. Tunji Odeyemi, Hon. Yemi Arokodare, among others.

They see Fayose as not being truthful during his leadership of the party as governor, and so encouraged Olujimi to provide the leadership lacking in Ekiti PDP at that time.

But, in Fayose’s camp, Olujimi is seen as trying to hijack the leadership of the PDP from Ayo Fayose, an allegation she has since debunked.

Olujimi, while dismissing the claim, however insisted that nobody owns the PDP.

She accused Fayose’s camp of trying to take advantage of her gender to sideline her from the management of the party, even when she has given her best to the service of both the party and state, promising to fight for her right.

The national body may not be absolved of the crisis in the state chapter of the party.

The national secretariat of the PDP may allegedly be in favour of Ayo Fayose holding the leadership position of the party (being a former governor) as every move seem to be working in his favour, particularly the presence of the caretaker committee working in line with the mandate of the PDP national.

The committee set up by the national body of the PDP to achieve peace in Ekiti State could not achieve any significant success as the crisis has become more visible with some of the members divided according to who they were working for.

After their inauguration, the chairman of the peace committee, Sen. Hosea Agboola and the secretary, Prince Diran Odeyemi, seem to be working in different directions.

The Chairman, Sen. Agboola, boycotted the local government and state congresses while the Secretary, Prince Odeyemi, was present to oversee those congresses, noting that he was officially representing the national secretariat of the PDP.

Prince Odeyemi, in his interaction with newsmen before the congress for the election of the state executive members on Saturday 29, August, 2020, explained how far the peace committee has gone in its assignment.

He confirmed the crisis between the two groups after the ward congress, and said all efforts to reconcile the two groups proved abortive, hence the decision of the national working committee of the PDP to continue with further elections in the state.

The two chairmen who emerged at the parallel congresses, Hons. Bisi Kolawole and Kehinde Odebunmi, are of the view that they will work for the progress of the party and reconcile all aggrieved members so that the party can confront the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2022 governorship election in the state.

Kolawole promised party members that the PDP will be united in all ramifications, saying his core mandate was “to lead the PDP to electoral victories in 2022 governorship election and the 2023 presidential election in Ekiti State,” while Odebunmi, also pointed out that “this is for us to achieve our objective of winning the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State, come year 2022.”

Giving reasons why the crisis has continued, the publicity secretary of the PDP, Mr. Raphael Adeyanju,  was of the view that some people decided on their own to usurp the authority of the congress committee set up by the National Working Committee, NWC, by conducting illegal ward congress, adding that when the real people who were to conduct the congress came, the reposition group boycotted the real congress, the ward and the local governments.

Adeyanju noted that when the repositioning group discovered that they have lost out, they headed to court seeking for the dissolution of the ward executives and when they lost the case, they went ahead to appeal the judgment and then boycotted subsequent congresses but in order to discredit the two congresses, they turned around to claim that they had a parallel congress.

“The truth is that there is only one congress recognized by the law. That is the one by the national secretariat.”

Adeyanju, however, urged the PDP reposition group to see the PDP as their own and avoid actions that can pull down the roof of the house. He noted that the NEC is open to reconciliation and expect cooperation from party members.

“We don’t regard anybody as losers, the minor disagreement is a quarrel among brothers which will be resolved very soon.

“We are open-minded and we will embrace them as soon as they are ready to come back home.”

Mr. Sanya Adesua, the publicity secretary of the Olujimi group, however, said there is no crisis in Ekiti PDP, but the voice of the majority of the party members which stands about 85 percent against the minority of the Fayose’s group working to reposition the party, saying Fayose cannot be a factional leader.

Adesua noted that by Fayose’s action, he has sent many leaders away from the party.

He added that Fayose cannot be a credible leader for Ekiti PDP.

The Olujimi repositioning group pointed out that they held parallel congress in Ekiti because they can move the party forward without Ayo Fayose.

Adesua, while informing on the way forward for the PDP, said they are presently at the appeal court, adding that critical stakeholders like the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; his Sokoto State counterpart, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and some stakeholders in the South West are also intervening on the matter.

The crisis between former Governor Ayodele Fayose and Senator Biodun Olujimi, which has further destroyed the unity of all party in the state, actually started before the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti, which Olujimi contested and later won in court.

Before then, Fayose had campaigned against Olujimi in the senatorial district.

For Ekiti PDP to be the desired opposition party in the state, it is expected that all the internal wranglings must be put aside.

The stakeholders must work together, team up, be open, promote inclusiveness in matters that relate to the party and shun ‘winner takes all’ attitude.