Makinde Deliberately Fueling Rebellion In South-West PDP –Olayinka

PDP South West Zonal Director, Lere Olayinka, has accused Gov. Seyi Makinde of fueling rebellion in the region.

News Rain Nigeria gathered that Olayinka in an interview recently said the activities of the governor in the zone show that “the governor is deliberately fueling rebellion and you don’t expect us to be clapping for him.”

When asked if it was true as claimed by some party chieftains that the trouble started when Governor Seyi Makinde tried to interfere in the party’s crisis in Ekiti State, which was rebuffed by the former governor, Ayo Fayose and his loyalists; Olayinka said:

Makinde Deliberately Fueling Rebellion In South-West PDP 

“It goes beyond what happened in Ekiti. But the truth is that Governor Makinde chose to interfere particularly in the party issues in Ekiti, Osun and Ogun States. As the only governor that we have in the Southwest, he can intervene. But instead of intervening, he chose to interfere, and as expected, there was resistance from these States.

For instance, in Ekiti State, he unilaterally made a formula for sharing Local Government and State Excos. He presented a proposal that all the six Local Government Chairmen in Ekiti South Senatorial District be given to Senator Biodun Olujimi. That is a Senatorial District where we have two immediate past House of Reps members and the 2018 governorship candidate, Kolapo Olusola-Eleka .

Then, he went further to propose that in Ekiti Central where former Governor Ayo Fayose and people like us are from, Olujimi should produce the party’s Secretary in the five Local Governments. And he was told clearly that in Ekiti PDP, we don’t have culture of sharing party positions, it has always been winner takes all.

Eventually, we had our congresses in Ekiti and elected Excos at the Wards, Local Governments and State levels were ratified by the NEC. But contrary to the decisions of the party at the national level, Governor Makinde chose to invite a self-appointed State Chairman of the party to meetings in Ibadan.

So, to us in Ekiti, the governor is deliberately fueling rebellion and you don’t expect us to be clapping for him.”

And when asked about who can be referred to as the political leader of the PDP in South West zone at present. Olayinka has this to say:

“The issue of political leadership is a function of agreement by the followers. There is nowhere in the constitution of the PDP that is written that A, B, or C will be leader. It is just for convenience, and in the past, it has always been the States running its own affairs.

Even when Fayose was the only governor, he did not impose Chief Faforiji as the Chairman of the party in Osun State despite his closeness to Senator Iyiola Omisore then. The people in Osun chose who they wanted as Chairman.

In 2016 that PDP had two governors in the Southwest (Dr Olusegun Mimiko and Fayose), some of the proponents of Governor Makinde is the supreme leader of the party, whose decisions must not be questioned, where in Ijebu Igbo residence of late Senator Buruji Kashamu, holding zonal congress while the two governors were in Akure.

Then, they said Kashamu was the leader of the party despite that we had two governors. So, the issue of leadership is not what anyone can enforce. Or can anyone force himself on me as my leader?

Most importantly, in zones where PDP has more than one governor, who is the party leader there?”