The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party in Southwest took another turn on Wednesday as some prominent leaders of the party in Oyo State endorsed Dr Eddy Olafeso as their candidate for the chairmanship position of the party in the South West.
The leaders, including Chief Nureni Akanbi, Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan, and Femi Babalola, and others said this on Wednesday in a statement after a meeting held in Ibadan.
The South West PDP is expected to hold its Congress to elect leaders of the party in the zone very soon but Governor Seyi Makinde and former Governor Ayo Fayose have been at loggerheads over the plan to return Olafeso, who is from Ondo State.
While Fayose is backing Olafeso, Makinde appears to be against his plan to return to the position he resigned from to contest the PDP governorship primary in Ondo State in 2020.
The communique signed by all the leaders reads in part; “We came here to strategise ahead of the South-West forthcoming congress. It is very necessary for us to come together and sharpen our tools ahead of the congress. we deliberated on a lot of issues and we reached a positive conclusion in all that we discussed.
“It is no longer news that there’s no chairmanship candidate coming from Oyo State, there is an agreement made that we are going to return the Eddy Olafeso exco and every leader from all the state still standing on the agreement, so Oyo State cannot be left out and we don’t want anybody to use his or her selfish interest to cause dispute in our great party.
“We are still going to hold more meetings before the congress but the issue of chairmanship for the congress is settled, Oyo State is supporting the effort to return Eddy at the coming congress.”
Former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who heads the reconciliatory committee constituted by the Makinde led faction of the PDP in the zone had in December visited Fayose in a bid to reconcile him with the governor.
Oyinlola and other leaders at the meeting with Fayose had endorsed Olafeso.
