Ekiti PDP removes chairman as APC, Fayose disagree over ‘stop and search’ order

Crisis has hit the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State as the Chairman, Chief Idowu Faleye, was
removed by the State Executive Committee at a meeting held on Tuesday for alleged inefficiency.
Faleye, a loyalist of Governor Ayodele Fayose was also accused of failure to convene a meeting since he assumed office last year.
He was appointed in 2014 following the elevation of the then Chairman, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, to the position of the National Vice Chairman, Southwest of the PDP.
The SEC, which was said to have sacked the chairman without notifying the governor elected Mr. Olatunde Olatunde as the Acting Chairman pending ratification of his appointment by the National Executive Committee of the party.
Olatunde, who disclosed this to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, said appointing Faleye as the chairman was an error because he hailed from Ido Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government with the State Youth leader of the party.
But Faleye maintained that he was still the duly elected chairman asking journalists to ignore his purported resignation.
According to him, the issue is all about money, adding that his appointment has been ratified by the NEC because he led the state to the PDP National Convention last year and voted.
“The person is saying that at his own detriment. All the party leaders are behind me. The only misunderstanding we had was that they demanded for honorarium  for six months amounting to about N11m and I said I cannot sign the cheque without the approval of the governor,” he said.
Olatunde said Faleye was asked to resign after confronting him with the facts and that the decision had been transmitted to the Alhaji Adamu Muazu-led National Working Committee in Abuja through South West Zonal Committee.
He said, “We held the State Executive Committee’s meeting at our secretariat in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday where Chief Idowu Faleye was confronted with the fact that we made a mistake in his appointment and that he is not doing well among us.
“Besides, the SEC has yet to ratify his appointment. After a prolonged argument, he willingly stepped down.
“We follow Federal Character in the appointment in our party. We cannot appoint two different principal officers from the same ward, it is against our constitution. Faleye is from the same Ido Ward 1 where the State Youth Leader comes from. The SEC in its wisdom appointed me as the Acting Chairman.
Olaleye, who said the decision had not been communicated officially to Fayose, said it had nothing to do with the feud between the governor and the National Chairman.
“We don’t have to meddle into their affairs, they know how to settle themselves.
“Though, we have not breached any constitution by not confiding in the governor before taking the action because going by the Constitution of our party, there is a difference between governance and the party. The governor holds the governance but he is a PDP member under me.”
He added, “We are making a change for the betterment of the party. Those who had abandoned the party have started calling us since Tuesday promising to work with us. So I know that this will make our party to wax stronger.
“I don’t foresee any crisis, but if there are issues to settle, we won’t hesitate to do that. The issue on the ground is to reposition the party and make it stronger.”

APC, Fayose disagree over ‘stop and search’ order

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in Ekiti State have alleged that the ‘Stop and Search’ order of Governor Ayodele Fayose over the cases of kidnapping in the state was a plot‎ to track them for kidnap to stall his impeachment.
The lawmakers in a statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said they had uncovered an alleged plot by the governor to ‎engage the  Government House security men on major roads in the state to conduct ‘stop and search’ operations in a frantic search to track them for kidnap.
The lawmakers condemned such operation as “unwarranted assault,” particularly as the cars targeted in the operation would be mainly dark grey  Toyota Camry cars, which is the brand and colour of their official cars.
But Ekiti State Government has described the allegations by the APC lawmakers as “evil, wicked and insensitive,” saying it was a clear exposure of the culpability of the party in the kidnapping of residents of Ekiti State.
The lawmakers said, “We are in possession of a report that the governor is exploiting cases of kidnap in the state to break the nation-wide ban on roadblock ordered by the Inspector General of Police to raise some teams of security men working in the Government House to be on our trail to take us out of circulation.
“As we speak, the security men and thugs are in possession of our photographs to identify us after stopping us. They have been told to specifically be on the look-out for dark grey Toyota Camry cars, which are our official cars, to identify us for kidnap to stall his impeachment.
“Part of the instruction is that all vehicles with tinted ‎glasses must be stopped for identification. All our cars are tinted and so that will create the excuse for stopping our cars just to hit their targets.
The lawmakers urged leaders to caution the governor while also urging the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to put his men on the alert to stop the activities of criminal gangs bent of frustrating his ‘no roadblock’ order across the country.
But Fayose in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said he would do everything humanly possible to protect lives and properties of Ekiti people.
According to him, what is expected from genuine lovers of the State is to cooperate with security agencies, and not politicisation of every efforts of the government by the APC.
Explaining that the security measures complained of by the lawmakers were resolutions of the Ekiti State Security Council meeting that took place on Monday, he added that the APC in Ekiti State was living up to its real identity as a congregation of evil minded people,
“Only wicked and evil people, whose agenda is to make Ekiti State ungovernable will kick against these measures that are aimed at securing the lives and properties of the people.
“Most importantly, it is on record that Ekiti State is always made ungovernable whenever the APC elements lose power, and the unfortunate criminal activities that we have witnessed in the last few days cannot but be traceable to the plot by the APC to discredit the government by presenting it as incapable of securing lives and properties in the State.
“From past experiences, organised crimes have become the major tools used by the APC elements to make Ekiti State unsafe whenever they lose power to the PDP.
“It is important to note that all these organised crimes ended the very first day the APC elements regained power in the State,” the statement said.