The judgment of the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti Division which sacked the Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) factional State Working Committee (SWC) loyal to Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has continued to receive applause.
While the PDP South West said the verdict signaled an end to impunity, abuse of party constitution and one-man dictatorship in Ekiti State chapter, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Ambassador Dare Bejide, described it as the beginning of the revival of the party in the state.
Bejide, a PDP governorship aspirant, said in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday that with the judgment, “those who left the party for various reasons can now come back. The PDP is still the party to beat in Ekiti State
“Kudos to the Judiciary for the landmark judgment. I congratulate the party chairman, the state executive and leaders of the party,” Bejide said.
The court had on Tuesday sacked the Gboyega Oguntuase-led SWC 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.
PDP Southwest Chairman, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, and the Southwest PDP Zonal Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said the judgment had ended abuse of party constitution and one-man dictatorship in Ekiti State chapter and would as well reposition it and make it attractive to politicians and electorate ahead of the next elections.
Ogundipe, in a chat with journalists in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday on the heels of the court verdict which took the control of the state structure from Fayose, hailed the court for doing justice and rescuing the party from the stranglehold of the governor who he accused of sending prominent leaders and members away from the party.
The zonal PDP chairman said the Judiciary had once again demonstrated an uncommon courage and never allowed “those intoxicated with transient power” to pocket it adding that “this arm of government has been the saving grace of the nation’s democracy.”
Ogundipe, who claimed that Fayose had 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 whom 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 selfishly 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,” Ogundipe said.
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