A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti has sworn in Mr Alaba Agboola as the state substantive chairman.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Agboola and some others who claimed to be members of the State Working Committee on Tuesday stormed the party’s secretariat in the Ajilosun area amidst tight security for the swearing-in.
They were presented with relevant documents of the party by the Acting Chairman, Mr Lanre Omolase.
Agboola replaced the party’s governorship candidate in the last election, Mr Bisi Kolawole, who resigned as the state chairman to contest the election.
NAN recalls that Agboola appointment was earlier announced on Monday in a statement jointly signed by Omolase and the party’s secretary, Mrs Funmi Ogun in Ado-Ekiti.
The statement said that Agboola’s appointment was among the resolutions at the State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting held in Ado Ekiti.
Omolase, while speaking on Tuesday after the swearing-in, described Agboola as the authentic chairman backed by the constitutional provision and the party’s guidelines.
He said that the constitution of the party had empowered them to appoint a substantive chairman following the resignation of the former chairman, Kolawole
“The constitution of the party has given us the power to appoint a substantive chairman and members of that committee of the committee are 68 in number.
“And since the exercise is coming under my leadership as the Acting Chairman, I only need 26 members of that committee to confirm the appointment of Engr. Agboola.
“We are not closing our eyes at what a group of people are doing and I want to tell you straight away in the presence of the press that they lacked constitutional power, they lack the zeal, they lack the morality to carry out such an action,” he said.
Agboola, in his acceptance speech, said it was time for party members to work together as one big family. He also promised to ensure members were on the same page.
Ogun, the party secretary , said the members present at the inaugural meeting were the authentic members who have the constitutional right to appoint the party chairman.
She disclosed that the leadership of the party and members of the SEC had met on Monday to deliberate on the vacant chairmanship seat.
Meanwhile, Mr Deji Ogunsakin, a former Deputy Governorship candidate of the party, had also claimed to be the authentic state chairman of the party.
He based his claim on having met the party’s constitution requirement on the numerical strength of supporting members.
Ogunsakin, who spoke to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, described the purported swearing-in of Agboola as illegal and a nullity.
He said those involved in the process had no power according to the party constitution to carry out such function.
Ogunsakin said he was awaiting his swearing-in by the national headquarters of the party to formally take over the affairs of the party in the state.
He said by every standard, his appointment as the chairman followed due process and of which the SEC gave its blessings.
Ogunsakin pledged to work assiduously for the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the president of Nigeria come 2023.
Mr Raphael Adeyanju, the party’s Publicity Secretary in Ekiti, had also in a statement on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, urged the public to ignore the purported appointment of Agboola as the party’s substantive Chairman.
According to him, the entire process of appointment of the State Party Chairman is exclusively the responsibility of the SEC which comprises all major stakeholders of the party, numbering about 60.
“The meeting of the SEC is ongoing at present to ratify the nomination of the central senatorial district, thus satisfying Section 47 (6) of the party constitution.
“The name of the substantive state chairman of PDP, as confirmed by SEC, will be announced shortly.
“Please ignore all other communications that is not from the official spokesperson of the party.” Adeyanju said. (NAN)
