By Oluwakemi Ishola
Former Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has told Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state governor not to visit Ekiti and other southwest states with a view to tampering with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the region. The leaders of the party in South-West led by Fayose resolved that no state should be ruled or governed by another.
According to Faroese, Engr. Makinde has no right to interfere in the local politics being played in each South-West state despite being a zonal leader of the party.
He made his position known on Wednesday when he led the National delegates of PDP including the chairmen of the party in Osun, Ekiti, Lagos to Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
“Though Engr. Makinde is the only governor in South-West, he should allow every state to be governed by its local leaders. I am ready to fight anyone that wants to take over the structure of the party in Ekiti from me”.
“There has been a reasonable cold war of who and who becomes the executive of the zone. Governor Makinde has demanded that the zonal executive be sacked and a caretaker be fostered on the zone which the party did. But, since the caretaker committee came into being, he has not allowed them to function because he produced the chairman.
“Beyond that, the fact that there is a sitting governor does not say I should go to another man’s state. Nobody should come to my state; if you come to my state, I will face you squarely.
“I will continue to respect him because he is my brother, I love him so much and I was part of his emergence.”
Earlier, the party in Ogun state had taken over the party Secretariat barely a month after the leader of a faction of the party late Buruji Kashamu died.
The other faction led by Sikirullahi Ogundele took over the Secretariat from the Kashamu faction in a peaceful manner and held a zonal meeting afterward.
Rising from the meeting, a communique was issued and signed by the four states chairmen of PDP in South-West, which include Engr Deji Doherty (Lagos); Sikirullahi Ogundele (Ogun); Sunday Olatunde, Akanfe (Osun); and Bisi Kolawole (Ekiti).