Elected officers of the Peoples Democratic Party from the South-West
have said it is wrong for governors Olusegun Mimiko and Ayodele Fayose
of Ondo and Ekiti States respectively, to preside over the election of
new officers into the party in the zone when they are still in office.
They said this was the reason why they went to court to stop the party’s zonal congress from holding in Akure last Saturday.
Justice
Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos, had on Thursday
restrained the party from going ahead with its zonal congress.
The
judge had ruled on an ex parte application brought before him on
Thursday by the incumbent PDP South-West Zonal Secretary, Chief ‘Pegba
Otemolu, and restrained the party from going ahead with the scheduled
congress.
The judge said the order would subsist until the final determination of Otemolu’s main suit.
But
the two governors led members of the party from the zone to hold the
congress in Akure in disobedience to the order of the court.
The
Vice-Chairman of the party in the zone, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said
in a statement in Abuja on Sunday that the two governors should know
that the court order must be obeyed.
They, therefore, argued that
the congress held by the governors on Saturday was illegal and its
outcome should not be respected by the national leadership of the party.
He commended the national headquarters of the party and the
Independent National Electoral Commission for obeying the court order by
staying away from the congress.
He said, “The decision of the
national leadership of our great party and INEC to obey the court order
is commendable. However, they must go beyond mere rhetoric and stand
firm.
“Going forward, they have a duty to issue reports
invalidating the exercise even before the court nullifies the
contraption called the zonal congress.
“They should show to all
and sundry that the age of impunity and political cum executive
recklessness is gone for good. And that no one, no matter how powerful,
is bigger than the law.
“It is on this note that I wish to implore
all our respectable governors, leaders, elders and other stakeholders,
to stand up for the truth and caution governors Fayose and Mimiko. They
should desist from plunging the party into avoidable crisis.
“For
instance, the so-called officers and delegates who emerged from the
illegal congress could contaminate the national convention and render
its outcome null and void, if they are allowed to participate in the
convention at the expense of the legitimate officers and delegates.
“All
we are saying is that there is no justification for the election of new
officers into executive positions in the zone when the tenure of the
current officers has not expired.
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