Senator Faults Fayose Over Composition Of Atiku’s Campaign Team

NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIAJanuary 8, 2019

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The Senate Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi, has rejected the composition of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Council in Ekiti State.

She has therefore called on the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, and the party’s National Working Committee to disband and reconstitute the council.

Olujimi made her position known in a petition addressed to Secondus which was dated January 6, 2019.

She accused a former governor of the state, Mr Ayodele Fayose, of taking over the council and putting his cronies in all strategic positions with the intention of sidelining other members of the party.

The council, according to a publication which Olujimi was reacting to, is billed for inauguration in Ado Ekiti, the state capital on Tuesday.

But Olujimi asked that Fayose be mandated to comply with an earlier resolution of the party “by adhering to the earlier membership and composition of the Atiku/Obi PresidentiaTl Council as previously agreed by the state working committee.”

She said if Fayose failed to comply with the resolution, the state working committee would be left with no other option but to take appropriate actions that would reflect the wish of the people as agreed in the meeting of the campaign council at the PDP State Secretariat which was chaired by Olusola Kolapo.

Olujimi said, “The original composition, as agreed to at the meeting, had Prof Olusola Kolapo as chairman, Yinka Akerele as Director-General and Chief Sanya Atofarati as spokesperson/Director of Media among others while the position of Secretary did not exist in the original composition by the National Directorate.”

The composition which she rejected, however, has Olusola as chairman; Chief Dipo Anisulowo as DG; Chief Gboyega Oguntuase as Secretary; Jackson Adebayo as spokesperson; and Lere Olayinka as Director, Media and Publicity.

She said only an immediate dissolution of the “highly lopsided” campaign council could avert unnecessary friction within the party in the state.

She added, “It has become imperative to swiftly alert the National Campaign Council of our great party, PDP, and the general public to kindly disregard the misleading publication as to the actual composition of the campaign council.

“The purported publication is not only untrue, but also contravenes the prescribed provisions of our party’s guidelines and directive.

“It should be understood that this is another orchestrated plan of former Governor Ayo Fayose to convert the party’s resources and fortunes to his personal enterprise as usual.

“He did it during the last governorship election and our party paid dearly for it in spite of my advice, warnings and outcry. Once beaten is twice shy.

“This is most unacceptable as Ekiti people and Nigerians cannot afford to lose this golden opportunity to change the APC-led maladministration both at the national and state levels because of one person’s self-centeredness.”