Elected officers of the Peoples Democratic Party from the South-West have said it is wrong for governors Olusegun Mimiko and Ayodele Fayose of Ondo and Ekiti States respectively, to preside over the election of new officers into the party in the zone when they are still in office.
They said this was the reason why they went to court to stop the party’s zonal congress from holding in Akure last Saturday.
Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos, had on Thursday restrained the party from going ahead with its zonal congress.
The judge had ruled on an ex parte application brought before him on Thursday by the incumbent PDP South-West Zonal Secretary, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu, and restrained the party from going ahead with the scheduled congress.
The judge said the order would subsist until the final determination of Otemolu’s main suit.
But the two governors led members of the party from the zone to hold the congress in Akure in disobedience to the order of the court.
The Vice-Chairman of the party in the zone, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday that the two governors should know that the court order must be obeyed.
They, therefore, argued that the congress held by the governors on Saturday was illegal and its outcome should not be respected by the national leadership of the party.
He commended the national headquarters of the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission for obeying the court order by staying away from the congress.
He said, “The decision of the national leadership of our great party and INEC to obey the court order is commendable. However, they must go beyond mere rhetoric and stand firm.
“Going forward, they have a duty to issue reports invalidating the exercise even before the court nullifies the contraption called the zonal congress.
“They should show to all and sundry that the age of impunity and political cum executive recklessness is gone for good. And that no one, no matter how powerful, is bigger than the law.
“It is on this note that I wish to implore all our respectable governors, leaders, elders and other stakeholders, to stand up for the truth and caution governors Fayose and Mimiko. They should desist from plunging the party into avoidable crisis.
“For instance, the so-called officers and delegates who emerged from the illegal congress could contaminate the national convention and render its outcome null and void, if they are allowed to participate in the convention at the expense of the legitimate officers and delegates.
“All we are saying is that there is no justification for the election of new officers into executive positions in the zone when the tenure of the current officers has not expired.”
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