Dr Eddy Olafeso, a former National Vice Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to the report that he has been disqualified by the screening committee of the party.
Newsflash Nigeria had reported that the Chairman of the National Convention Organising Committee, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State had announced the three aspirants; Professor Wale Oladipo, Dr Olafeso Eddy and Okey Muo-Aroh have been disqualified from contesting for positions in the National Working Committee.
Wale Oladipo from Osun State who wanted to contest for the position of Deputy National Chairman South, Okey Muo-Aroh from Anambra State who was an aspirant for the position of National Secretary, and Dr Olafeso Eddy from Ondo State for National Publicity Secretary.
Giving reasons for their disqualification, Governor Fintiri accused the trio of dragging the opposition party to court to halt the national convention.
He stated that Oladipo, Eddy and Muo-Aroh failed to exhaust the internal conflicts resolution mechanism as provided for in the PDP Constitution.
But the former National Vice Chairman (South) of the PDP, Dr Eddy Olafeso, said he was never disqualified from the race.
The former national vice-chairman, in a statement he personally issued on Thursday, said nobody was disqualified, explaining that they were only not cleared by the screening committee of the party.
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He said, “We never took the party to court to stop any convention; what we did was to approach the court to interpret the constitution of the party on the controversy surrounding the tenure of the ousted National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
“This was done with good intention to save the party from further crisis. And the case has since been withdrawn from the court a long time ago to exhaust the internal conflicts resolution mechanism for the overalls interest of the party.
“I wasn’t disqualified and no one was disqualified. We were not cleared by the screening committee and that is why we have an appeal screening committee. The appeal has the final say. I have already appealed the verdict of the screening committee. We have evidence of withdrawal of the court case a long time ago.
“This is pure politics to scheme me and others out of the race. The appeal screening committee will sit on Saturday and we will be there to seek justice. All my supporters should remain calm and undeterred. I will contest this election and win with a very wide margin. The PDP is bigger than individuals and the party knows what is good for it.”
