Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti

Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Hon. Lanre Omolase, has faulted the dissolution of the Ekiti State executive committee of the party by the Dr. Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as an exercise in futility, saying it was both contemptuous and a waste of time.

Declaring that he remained chairman of the party in Ekiti State until a court of competent jurisdiction ruled otherwise, Omolase, in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday, insisted that any action that was against a subsisting order of the court.

“I want to say, proclaim and declare that I am still the Acting Chairman of the PDP in Ekiti and only the court of law can say otherwise. My position as the Acting Chairman is as dictated by a court of competent jurisdiction, and the court order is still subsisting.

“The position of the court is that nothing must be done concerning the state chairmanship of the PDP in Ekiti until final determination of a suit filed when two persons were laying claim the chairmanship of the party.
“Apart from the fact there is a subsisting court order backing my position, the National Working Committee does not also have powers to sack duly elected Exco members of the party at whatever level.

“Also, I condemn the purported suspension of the National Assembly candidates of the party and wish to state that there was nowhere the candidates were invited to defend themselves as dictated by the principle of fair hearing,” he explained.

Giving further insight into the genesis of the crisis, Omolase said, “Our complaint was about composition of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in which members of Social Democratic Party (SDP) were accorded vantage positions.

“Our position was that SDP has National Assembly candidates whose elections will be held same day as that of the president, and the party is only interested in funding its candidates with resources from PDP.

“Letters were written, even to the Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, but nothing was done. For the campaign rally, only two out of nine National Assembly candidates were involved. Even me, as the Acting Chairman was totally ignored.

“It therefore appears funny and laughable to me that a National Working Committee that did not visit Ekiti during the last governorship election is now angry that we did not attend a presidential rally that we were never involved in its planning.”