The factional chairman , Peoples Democratic Party, Ekiti State , Kehinde Odebunmi, on Friday doubted the authenticity of a letter purportedly written by the party ’s National Working Committee which gave recognition to the former Governor Ayodele Fayose faction ’s State Working Committee chaired by Bisi Kolawole.
Odebunmi, who is the chairman of the faction loyal to Senator Biodun Olujimi, said, “ The contents of the letter purportedly signed by the party’s national secretary , Senator Umaru Tsauri, were full of confusion and ambiguities .”
Leadership crisis between Fayose and Olujimi had split the party into two factions whereby they conducted parallel ward, local government and state congresses just as there is a pending legal issue over the conduct of the ward congresses.
The September 10 , 2020 letter entitled, ‘State executive committee – Ekiti State ,’ and addressed to the Inspector-General of Police stated that Ekiti PDP had concluded its congresses, adding “ the SWC is led by Hon Bisi Kolawole and scribed by Hon Mrs Funmi Ogun .”
But Odebunmi, a former member of the House of Representatives , who spoke at a conference, addressed by the Olujimi faction in Ado Ekiti , said, “ Firstly , we doubt the authenticity of the letter purportedly written by the National Secretary , because it was solely written and signed by the National Secretary . By my own understanding, any letter by any party to any federal agency is always co - signed by the chairman and secretary .
“ Again in paragraph two of the letter , the party owned up that it hasn’t conducted the ward and state congresses in 22 wards of two local governments . If that is the case , why should they proceed with the state congress when there were outstanding? Are they saying the two councils are not part of Ekiti ? They should know that you can’t build something on nothing .
“ Let me also notice that the letter was addressed to the IGP and copied Independent National Electoral Commission . When did the IGP become the superintending authority over INEC ? We are of the opinion that a separate letter has to be written to INEC and should be co - signed by National Chairman and Secretary .
“ We know their antics, they didn’t write to INEC directly because the electoral umpire didn’t participate in the charade they called congress here in Ekiti . To us, we doubt the authenticity of that letter going by the ambiguities contained therein.”
Source: Punch