The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the choice of Oyo and Osun state indigenes as Chairman and Secretary of the caretaker committee of the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, as an indictment on PDP members in the state.
The South-West Zonal Publicity Secretary of the APC, Karounwi Oladapo, said this in a statement on Monday.
Oladapo said, “The caretaker chairman is from Oyo State, while the caretaker secretary is from Osun State. The PDP national body could not find trusted and capable PDP figures in Ekiti to manage the party affairs in the interim in Ekiti State. This is very demeaning! Anyway, this is the worth of Ekiti PDP before the PDP national hierarchy.”
The National Working Committee of the PDP had constituted a seven-member caretaker committee to handle the affairs of the party following the expiration of the tenure of the PDP State Executive Committee on May 10 and the inability of the party to conduct council and state congresses owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It named a former Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Hosea Agboola, as chairman and Diran Odeyemi as secretary.
The APC spokesman, who was reacting to this development alleged that with this action, the PDP national body had handed over its party affairs in the state to outsiders. He based his conclusions on the fact that the caretaker chairman hails from Oyo State, while the secretary hails from Osun State.
Oladapo further said the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP had pushed “itself into a horrible hole.”
He further said, “I will encourage those who can no longer stand the heat in Ekiti PDP to come over to APC. We will be happy to welcome you. We are very peaceful, organised and accommodating. The more, the merrier for us in APC.”
However, a former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly who is also a member of the caretaker committee, Tunji Odeyemi, dismissed Oladapo’s comments as “pure personal opinion” noting that “Ekiti PDP has reliable, competent, capable and trusted hands.”
Odeyemi explained that the APC spokesperson was incapable of understanding the internal workings of the PDP.
He said it was the tradition of the PDP to bring in neutral members from outside states to serve as chairman and secretary of caretaker committees, adding that, “In this situation to oversee the affairs of the party until a new executive committee is elected.”
The former speaker, said, “There is no way APC will ever be an alternative to the PDP. We know what is happening. People can compare between when PDP was in government and when APC is there now.
“People can compare the state of the economies then and now. People are not blind and deaf to the present hardship. We all saw what happened during the 2018 governorship primaries in Ekiti which produced Dr. Kayode Fayemi as candidate. APC can never be an alternative to PDP.”
