Senator Buruji Kasamu, representing Ogun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, on Thursday, utterly condemned Ayodele Fayose presidential biding campaign ahead of the 2019 elections.
Describing Fayose as a clawn and a major destroyer of the PDP, Kashamu called the Ekiti State governor as an ‘alawada’ (Yoruba word for comedian) like Baba Sala. The lawmaker decried that Fayose, being the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, who could be likened to the ‘president’ of the party, had failed to obey the zoning agreement in the PDP.
Kashamu recalled that Fayose had once proposed to seek another term as Governor of Ekiti State, but later announced his vice-presidential ambition.
The senator said, “He is a ‘confusionist’ and number one destroyer of the party. How on earth would somebody, who agreed with other party chieftains, that the presidential ticket of the party for 2019 should be zoned to the North, would now turn around to start campaigning for the same ticket as a southerner Also, a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, said Fayose could not contest in the party’s primary poll for the 2019 presidential election.
Nwodo told the News Agency of Nigeria that PDP’s ideology forbade Fayose and other members from the South from contesting the presidential race in 2019.
“Those of us from the South made a case because in the First Republic, the prime minister was from the North; in the Second Republic, the President was from the North, and in the Third Republic, a southerner won and the election was annulled.
“There was no way we could go back to the South and say let’s elect a northerner again without giving the south a slot.
“A decision was taken that the President should come from the South and the chairman of the party to come from the North.
“That was how Solomon Lar became the chairman of the PDP and secretary was zoned to the south; that was how I became the first secretary of the party.”
Nwodo, a former National Chairman of the PDP, said the party would take a decision to ensure that its constitution and ordinances were respected.