The former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has warned the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, against tampering with the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party in South-West states.
Fayose insisted that the Oyo governor had no right to interfere in the local politics being played in each South west state despite being a zonal leader of the party.
The former governor said this on Wednesday when he led the national delegates of the PDP, including the chairmen of the party in Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Fayose stressed that Makinde, who was a zonal leader of the party due to his position as the only governor in South-West, should allow every state to be governed by its local leaders.
Fayose said, “There has been a reasonable cold war about who and who become the executive of the zone. Governor Makinde has demanded that the zonal executive be sacked and a caretaker be foisted on the zone, which the party did.
“The fact that there is a sitting governor does not say I should go to another man’s state. Nobody should come to my state; if you come to my state, I will face you squarely. I will continue to respect him because he is my brother; I love him so much and I was part of his emergence.”
Earlier, the party in Ogun State had taken over the party secretariat barely a month after the leader of a faction of the party, late Buruji Kashamu, died.
The other faction led by Sikirullahi Ogundele took over the secretariat from Kashamu faction in a peaceful manner and held a zonal meeting afterwards.
Meanwhile, rising from the meeting, a communiqué was issued and signed by the four state chairmen of PDP in South-West, which include Deji Doherty (Lagos); Sikirullahi Ogundele (Ogun); Sunday Olatunde Akanfe (Osun); and Bisi Kolawole (Ekiti).
The leaders of the party in the South-West region led by Fayose resolved that no state should be ruled or governed by another.
In a related development, a National Assembly member, Senator Biodun Olujimi, on Wednesday accused Fayose, of surreptitiously moving against Makinde.
The senator representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, who spoke in Ado Ekiti at a meeting of her faction of the PDP, said, “Makinde is the symbol of the party in the South-West.
“So, anything that must come from the zone must come through him. Fayose and his conspirators’ visit to Uche Secondus was nothing but recreational. I can take anybody to the national secretariat of the party and we take pictures.”
