THINGS are no longer at ease in the South-West zonal chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. This is as a result of last weekend’s adoption of Professor Wale Oladipo as national secretary by party leaders in Ibadan, Oyo State. Already, some PDP South-West leaders have vowed to resist any move to impose anyone on the region as a representative at the national secretariat of the party. George, Filani dig it out: At the centre of the feud are Chief Bode George, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), and the incumbent zonal Caretaker Chairman, Ishola Filani, who are at loggerheads over the presentation of a suitable candidate to fill the seat. It all started when leaders of the party rose from a meeting in Ibadan, last Saturday, and chose Oladipo, a former governorship aspirant of the PDP in Osun State, for the position which was declared vacant due to a court judgement that affected the former National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. Professor Oladipo, a nuclear physicist, was the former chairman of the Osun State Education Board and a host of federal boards. Extraordinary zonal congress While Chief George is said to be opposed to the presentation of Oladipo as he is presenting a candidate from Lagos State, Filani and other executive members have thrown their weight behind Oladipo to fill the vacancy. Faulting George’s move, Filani, after an extra- ordinary zonal congress of the party held in Ibadan, said “Bode George has been taking wrong steps. How he came about putting a Lagos man in the position belonging to Osun State in line with the court order was not known to us”. File photo: Some of the chieftains of PDP at the party’s South west zonal meeting Citing the Court order marked Suit No. FHC/ABJ/ CS/504/2012, he said “An order is hereby granted directing the 3rd defendant (Independent National Electoral Commission) to rectify the records of the 2nd defendant (PDP) by deleting the name of the 1st defendant (Oyinlola) as the national secretary of the 2nd defendant; and replacing same in accordance with the provision of the constitution of the 1st defendant with candidate nominated at a valid congress of the South-West zone chapter of the 1st defendant to be held within 21 days of the order of the court”. Delegates from five states adopt Oladipo In line with the court order, he explained that party delegates from all the six states in the zone including Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti with the exception of Lagos turned up for the congress. To him, the unilateral appointment made by George did not enjoy popular support of the zonal leaders of the party from the region. Internal democracy has come to stay in PDP – Oladipo Meanwhile, the new acting national secretary, in his acceptance speech, gave kudos to the national leadership of the party for giving room to internal democracy which he claimed made his endorsement possible. Chairman of Osun PDP, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, and another leader, Chief Lere Oyewumi, confirmed the adoption, saying the state had put forward its best for the position. They noted that “Professor Oladipo is a tested and accomplished professional who will not disappoint the zone and the national leaders of the party.” Lagos PDP rejects Oladipo Already, the Lagos State chapter of the PDP, where George holds sway, has rejected the adoption of Professor Oladipo by the South-West caucus of the PDP as the new national secretary of the party. In its reaction, the Lagos PDP dissociated herself from the purported South West meeting allegedly nominating another person to replace an already serving acting national secretary of the party. In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Taofik Gani, Lagos PDP said “the state chapter opines that the necessity to make this declaration is borne out of the fact that the Acting National Secretary was endorsed by the NEC of the party, noting that revisiting such decision at this time will amount to a betrayal of leadership.” Picking holes in the decision reached by leaders of the party over the weekend, the party said, “the caretaker committee of the party in the South-West had on Saturday held a caucus meeting at Ibadan where they nominated another person to replace the incumbent acting national secretary. The present occupier of the seat of the acting national secretary was endorsed by the NEC of the party.” Reiterating the superiority of the National Executive Council, NEC, the party maintained that “the NEC is a higher authority than the Zonal Executive Committee. This hierarchy of authority must be understood by all. Taking actions outside the decisions of the NEC would be tantamount to making ultra vires decisions and Lagos PDP cannot be part of this.” The state chapter thus “unequivocally condemns the resolution at the said caucus meeting whilst also urging the national secretariat to discountenance same. In a show of purposefulness, the Lagos State PDP admonished the party’s leaders in the zone to desist from actions that can present them as fifth columnists within the party. It noted that the bigger fight in the zone is against the ACN and thus called on the leaders to aggregate their strategies and resources against the opposition rather than antagonising one another
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 06:15:00 +0000
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