The Southwest Zonal Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has welcomed an Ado Ekiti Federal High Court judgment which sacked the factional exco loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose saying the verdict has signaled an end to impunity, abuse of party constitution and one-man dictatorship in Ekiti State chapter.
The PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Makanjuola Ogundipe, said the zonal leadership of the party wholeheartedly welcomed the judgment which he said would reposition the Ekiti chapter and make the platform attractive to politicians and electorate ahead of the next elections.
The Court had on Tuesday sacked the Gboyega Oguntuase-led exco loyal to Fayose and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize and conduct official business with the Williams Ajayi-led exco which instituted the case.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday on the heels of the court verdict which took the control of the state structure from Fayose, Ogundipe hailed the court for doing justice and rescuing it from the stranglehold of the governor whom he accused of sending prominent leaders and members away from the party.
Ogundipe said the Judiciary has once again demonstrated an uncommon courage and never allow “those intoxicated with transient power” to pocket it adding that “this arm of government has been the saving grace of the nation’s democracy.”
The zonal party boss who claimed that Fayose has turned himself to an “emperor” in Ekiti PDP alleged that the governor wrote a list of the exco of his faction in his sitting room and masterminded parallel congresses where he imposed his stooges most of who left for Labour Party (LP) with him before returning in 2014.
Ogundipe said: “We wholeheartedly welcome this judgment; it is a judgment for the people, judgment for the rule of law, judgment against imposition, judgment against impunity and judgment against dictatorial tendencies of one man.
“We want this judgment to transcend to every part of the Southwest for our party to move forward and teach people like Fayose some lessons that there is no room for impunity, lawlessness and abuse of power in our party again.
“Here is a governor who will never respect the constitution of our party; the congress guidelines say that we should go and conduct congresses in our various wards and in his own case, he produced a list from his own sitting room but in our case, we went to the streets and brought our party men to the congresses to vote.
“Fayose doesn’t respect the rule of law and that is why he has used his power to prevent the swearing-in of Toyin Obayemi as a member of the House of Assembly contrary to the judgment of the court by resorting to delay tactics.”
Ogundipe who was the state party chairman when Fayose won the 2014 governorship poll said many PDP chieftains within and outside Ekiti are now regretting their support for the governor as he chased some out of the party while others who could not leave have been sidelined.
He said further: “Fayose has selfisihly sent away everybody that contributed to his emergence as governor. Some of us who were part of the process had warned that Fayose was coming to exhibit a winner-takes-all attitude in PDP in Ekiti.
“Fayose told us that he was a changed man and the question I want to ask is that can anybody see any change in him? In my own judgment, he was getting worse and that was why we were skeptical supporting him because it would do our party no good but the truth has come out now.
“When you find a leader who does not trust any follower, that kind of leader should not be trusted. We want to thank the Judiciary for coming to the rescue of our party in Ekiti and we believe that this judgment will help our party to move forward.”
