A former Senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Ayo Arise has called for the urgent intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan in the crisis rocking the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying; “The way things are going, PDP might lose Ekiti and that will be too disastrous.”
Arise, who maintained that he had no problems with anyone who emerges as the party’s governorship candidate, added that; “The process through which whoever is picked as the party’s candidate emerges is very important and that process must be free, fair and transparent.”
He described the last Wednesday Ward Congresses as a sham, adding that the last Saturday’s primary election ought to have been shifted to allow for the resolution of the crises which arose from the congresses.
He said; “My position was made clear from the beginning. I made it clear that I will support whoever emerges as the party candidate through a process that is free, fair and transparent. However, what happened on Saturday was a charade that cannot be acceptable to men of good conscience, and I wish to state it categorically that Ekiti PDP do not have an acceptable governorship candidate yet.
“We all can see the results of the manipulated process. The State Legal Adviser, Kola Adefemi, who is the number one legal officer of the PDP in Ekiti State, has resigned, faulting the ward congresses and the primary election. The State Secretariat was set on fire this morning, and many of our men are threatening to leave the party.
“Mind you, notable stakeholders of the party are angry not because of the person who emerged from the controversial primary, but because the process was openly manipulated, and I doubt if any full-blooded Ekiti person will accept what happened on Saturday and queue behind Ayo Fayose as the PDP candidate.
“Mr President should therefore intervene as the leader of the party before things get out of hands, and I trust he won’t allow the party to collapse just because of the ambition of a single individual.”
