Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has deplored the recommendation of the State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party to suspend him over an alleged anti-party activity.
The recommendation was submitted by the party’s caretaker committee chairman, Dare Adeleke, before the Chief Tom Ikimi-led PDP disciplinary committee.
The party accused the former governor of anti-party activities, especially his declared support for the second-term bid of Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
Fayose had, in an interview last week, said he would support Oyebanji for a second term in office, though he did not belong to the same party as the governor.
The former governor, while inaugurating the Dehead/Faglo Road and electrification project recently completed by Oyebanji in Ado Ekiti, reiterated his support for the second term bid of the governor who belonged to the All Progressives Congress.
In his recommendation, Adeleke had said Fayose’s “public declarations and serial endorsements of the opposition are a direct affront to the values and unity of our great party, hence the step.”
Adeleke, who spoke at a press conference in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, said Fayose’s actions were misleading to the public, “giving a distorted and false image of what the PDP stands for”.
He said: “The PDP has set up a disciplinary committee headed by Chief Tom Ikimi. We (CTC) have met with the committee. Our position is that Ayo Fayose must be expelled from the party.”
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The PDP CTC chairman condemned Fayose’s actions and encouraged him “to take the bold and honest step of officially defecting rather than openly aligning himself with an opposing party and misleading others into his self-serving interests.
However, Fayose said he was not bothered, adding that Adeleke lacked such power to recommend him for expulsion.
The former Governor, through his aide, Lere Olayinka, dismissed the activities of the CTC chairman.
“We will soon know between him and Fayose who owns the politics of Ekiti. He will be the one that will come to Ekiti from Ibadan to vote for PDP in 2026 and 2027”.
He said: “Does he have that kind of power? No, he does not. His position as CTC chairman is being challenged in court. I am aware of three or four court cases saying he ought not to be CTC chairman.
“If your authority to operate is being challenged, where will you have such power to say you are recommending someone for expulsion?
“He is just like that. He makes noise. We are not bothered. He can continue, he should go to Abuja to suspend Fayose.
“I am aware of various utterances of the person who is parading himself as the CTC chairman. In the last meeting they held, he said that he had removed Fayose from the party and the party is now free for him.
“If he said he does not want Fayose – is it wrong for the person you said you don’t want in your house to go to another person’s house?”
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