Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the South West zone on Saturday disassociated themselves from the statement credited to Oyo State Governor Engineer Seyi Makinde, calling on the National Chairman of the party Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign his position as the chairman of the party.
The publicity secretaries of the party from the South West zone excluding that of Oyo State and Osun State while briefing the press in Ikeja Lagos, stated that though, Governor Makinde is the leader of the party in the South West being the only PDP governor from the zone, but the pronouncement he made that Ayu should resign was his personal opinion and not that of leaders of the party in the South West.
The publicity secretaries , Hakeem Amode, Lagos, Kennedy Peretei, Ondo,Hon. Raphael Wumi Adeyanju, Ekiti and Asiwaju Bankole Akinloye,Ogun, who spoke on behalf of the leadership of the party from the South West dissociated themselves from calls for the resignation of Ayu.
According to them, “We wish to affirm our faithfulness to the PDP constitution which clearly stipulates procedure for leadership election and removal.
“As the only political party that has not changed name or logo since its establishment in 1998, the party cannot afford to appear unserious.
“We do not see any justification for the resignation of our National Chairman, especially at this very critical stage of preparation for elections.
“Dr Iyorchia Ayu was duly elected at a properly constituted National Convention with a four year mandate and recently received a vote of confidence of the party’s National Executive Committee, at its 97th meeting in Abuja.
“Our party has championed the sanctity of the PDP Constitution (2017 as amended) . We must therefore do everything to maintain this sanctity. Any action that undermines the spirit of the party’s constitution at this crucial stage can only be considered as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the party’s efforts at winning in the coming general elections.
“We appeal to the leadership of our party in the Southwest region, to work together to respect the Constitution of our party because, if we cannot respect our own rules, guidelines and constitution as a party, how will Nigerians trust us to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when voted into the office.’’
“The concern of our zonal leaders and their determination to protect the interest of our members, against any form of marginalization is deeply appreciated. However, our focus should be directed mainly to encouraging our teeming members to rally round our candidates vying for the Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and Governorship positions and ensure that they win elections.”
