Let me begin by commending the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the maturity and candour with which it has conducted party affairs since the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the national leadership tussle.
It should be recalled that in my congratulatory message to the national leadership of our party, I said how it handles party issues and manage the victory, going forward, would go a long way in determining its success or otherwise.
THE ISSUE
My attention has been drawn to a purported South West PDP leaders’ meeting held today, 7th August, 2017 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital under the guidance of some impostors parading themselves as the South West Zonal Executives of our party.
This came just as I was inundated with calls on the publication of the names of one Eddy Olafeso and a certain Bunmi Jenyo as members of standing and sub-committees for the national convention. In the publication, Olafeso and Jenyo were named as Vice-Chairman and Secretary of the PDP in the South West.
At the Ibadan gathering, Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, took the stage and used it as a platform to launch all manner of attacks against my person. He purportedly spoke of plans to expel me from the party. He did not stop at that, he sent out leaders and members of the party whom he accused of being “Sheriff’s people”.
Not satisfied and apparently realizing his incapacity, he goaded the meeting into reaching some laughable decisions wherein they would purportedly desist from dealing with me at both the zonal or state level.
Although I know that he lacks the wherewithal to pull through his wishes, let me quickly state that I am not afraid of any expulsion. I am a man whom the Almighty Allah has blessed and who has made a name before I joined politics. And I will continue to be relevant, in and out of party politics.
The truth is: besides the illegality of their so-called resolutions, I do not need the association of Fayose and his cohorts. It is Fayose and his gang that should be avoided by our people. They should run from him for his ignoble role in the N13.5 billion arms funds scandal and for setting our party and region on a collision course with the rest of the country. He has since been declared a persona non grata and unfit among reasonable and right-thinking members of the society.
The purported resolutions against me by these political harlots are at best a comic-relief of no consequence whatsoever. Fayose and his lackeys are better known for their duplicitous flirtations which borders on the politics of bread and butter. They are a hungry lot who are ruled and blindfolded by inordinate ambition.
Besides, their action shows that Fayose and his minions are either strangers in the party or ignorant of the party’s Constitution, or both. Otherwise, they would have known that Article 57 (7) of the Constitution of PDP states, “Notwithstanding any other provision relating to discipline, no Executive Committee at any level, except the National Executive Com mittee, shall entertain any question of discipline as may relate or concern a member of the National Executive Committee, Deputy Governors or members of the National Assembly.”
The illegal group being promoted by Fayose through Olafeso and Jenyo are contemnors who will soon face the consequences of their actions; except reason and justice prevail.
In a ruling delivered in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/605/2016 on the 17th of May, 2016, the Federal High Court, Lagos, specifically nullified the jamboree they held in Akure which they called the South West Zonal Congress. Till date, the order has neither been set aside nor upturned on appeal.
The court said: “That an order is granted nullifying the South West congress conducted on the 14th of May, 2016 in Akure, which was so conducted in defiance of the order of this court made in this action on the 11th of May 2016 restraining the 2nd, 3rd and 4thDefendants from conducting or permitting or recognizing any election into the offices of the South West Zonal Executive Committee pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Summons…Everything built on actions in defiance of a court order is a nullity.” (See Annexure SW/PDP 1)
Furthermore, in a final judgement delivered on the court categorically stated, “That an order is granted to the Plaintiff restraining the 2nd, 3rd and 4thDefendants from conducting or permitting or recognizing any election into the offices of the South West Zonal Executive Committee until October, 2018, when the four years term of the current officers, including the Plaintiff would have been spent.
“That an order is granted to the Plaintiff directing the 1st Defendant not to recognize any other persons apart from the current officers of the South West Zonal Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party as set out in the result sheet for Zonal Congress for election of Zonal Executive members dated the 11th of October, 2014 until their four year term expires in October, 2018.” (See Annexure SW/PDP 2)
Now, the background to the judicial intervention was that Fayose and his gang of delinquents sought to truncate the four year tenure of the Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe-led Zonal Executive Committee in the build up to the 2016 National Convention.
What is more, as at the time they allegedly held what they called the zonal congress on the 14th of May, 2016, it was common knowledge that the congresses in Lagos, Oyo and Osun states were still being disputed. Those who attended from Ogun State were not the authentic delegates under the leadership of the State Chairman, Engr. Adebayo Dayo. In essence, the kangaroo zonal congress was conducted by delegates from just Ondo and Ekiti states.
ON FAYOSE’S TANTRUMS
Ordinarily, I would not have dignified Fayose with a response since everybody knows him as a depressed loudmouth who is suffering from what the legendary Chief Gani Fawehinmi would describe as “mouth diarrhoea”. He is nothing but an opportunist and a political scavenger whose night time will soon come.
Fayose drove out people he called pro-Sheriff from a PDP meeting and maligned me. I am not the least surprised. He has done it to many of his benefactors like me and I won’t be the last.
He wants to be the “alpha and omega” of the PDP in the South West, whether by hook or crook. But he forgets that leadership is not compelled; it is earned. And he does not have what it takes to lead the PDP even in Ekiti State, let alone the South West. For now, he can only aspire and pretend to the leadership. In a couple of months, the Pharaoh that we see today, we shall him no more.
CONCLUSION
I wish to urge our teeming supporters and respectable leaders and elders in the South West PDP not to be dismayed by Fayose’s threats and antics. It is an empty barrel that makes the loudest noise. Sooner than later, water will find its level and men will be separated from the boys.
And like I said in my congratulatory message to the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee on its victory, the national leadership of our party has a duty to be forthright and strong. It must respect and uphold the Rule of Law – the very principle that sustained it in office. Anything short of this would be an invitation to impunity and lawlessness which cannot stand. The authentic and recognized South West Zonal Exco is the one led by Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe which the court has affirmed.
Signed
Senator Buruji Kashamu
Ogun East Senatorial District
7th August, 2017
