Ekiti gov aspirant asks PDP to disqualify Fayose

Mr. Ayodele Fayose

A Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Deji Ajayi, has asked the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, to disqualify a fellow aspirant, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, from taking part in the PDP primaries scheduled for Saturday.

Ajayi, in a petition, which he also sent to President Goodluck Jonathan, threatened to seek legal redress if Fayose was not barred from the primaries to produce the PDP candidate in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti.

He said that Fayose had ceased from being a member of the party, having defected to the Labour Party in the past and that there was no constitutional recommendation to the National Working Committee of the PDP for Fayose’s readmission to the party.

Ajayi’s letter read in part, “Sir, the subject person, Mr. Ayo Fayose, who is not a party member has been parading himself as an aspirant on the platform of the party for some time without going through and/or fulfilling the constitutional prerequisites to becoming a member of the party.

“It may be apposite to state the facts of how Mr. Fayose, who was once a member of the party lost his membership and has never been re-admitted to full membership of the party to confer the status of participating in the electoral process leading to emergence of the party candidate.

“Sir, the subject person was the Governor of Ekiti State between 2003 and 2006 when he was impeached by the State House of Assembly and went on a self-imposed exile. Upon his return, he left the party and joined the All Nigerian Peoples Party and campaigned across the state for that party’s candidate in the 2007 gubernatorial election.

“In 2013, he did not only join the Labour Party, he was also the candidate of that party for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat which he lost with a wide margin to the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Sir, it is a fact that cannot be denied that the subject person, with these antecedents lost his membership of the party.

“It is conceded that the subject person has, to the general knowledge and to the personal knowledge of our client, taken the initial steps towards becoming a member of the party (PDP) in line with the provision of section 8(17) of the Constitution of the party, however, no recommendation has been made to the National Working Committee for his readmission to the party.