The crisis bedeviling the Ekiti State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as the party leadership announced the suspension of a former governor of the state, Mr Ayo Fayose.
The Chairman of the party, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, who made the announcement in Ado-Ekiti, said Fayose’s suspension followed the roles he allegedly played in the invasion of the state secretariat by thugs last week.
The PDP chairman also announced the suspension of the state Secretary of the party, Dr Tope Aluko, state Women Leader, Mrs Busola Oyebode as well as state Public Relations Officer, Kola Oluwole.
Ogundipe said investigations conducted by the party fingered the suspended persons in the crisis rocking the party.
The chairman also refuted allegations that he collected N5 million from an aspirant based in Abuja (veiled reference to Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade) to help him emerge as the party’s consensus candidate.
He said those suspended would appear before the party’s disciplinary committee at a later date.
In reaction to his purported suspension from the party, Fayose described the move as “outright cancellation of the entire PDP in Ekiti State. This is not only laughable but ignoble; suspending Fayose is like suspending PDP in Ekiti.
“It is the national leadership of PDP, not Ogundipe that can suspend Fayose who toiled to make the party occupy its present position as major opposition party in the state today. Fayose is an institution that cannot be excised from a party like PDP,” he said. (NAN)
