A group within the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Demecratic Party (PDP) has called on the founding fathers and other critical stakeholders of the party to call the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu to order.
The group, Osun Patriotic Front made the call in a statement on Saturday, alleging that Ayu, by his actions, is destroying the PDP in Osun State.
According to the statement signed by the coordinator of the group, Apesin Abiodun Adegoke, the PDP national chairman has conducted himself not as a leader, who should have ordinarily worked as a unifying figure for members but a divisive figure fueling division and factionalization of the party in the state.
The group, in the statement, further alleged that Ayu has consistently worked with bias in his handling of the affairs of the party in the state, in obvious support for the camp of Senator Ademola Adeleke, the factional governorship candidate of the party in the state.
The group also alleged that, against the expectations of members of the party for fairness, equity and morality in the composition of a caretaker committee for the Osun PDP, Ayu appointed staunch loyalists of Senator Adeleke into a seven member committee, without sparing a thought for the sensitivities of the other faction and that of generality of members of the party.
The statement read in part: “It is shocking that Senator Ayu could not hide his bias for the Adeleke faction when he appointed majority members of the faction into the new Caretaker Committee of the Osun PDP.
“It is even more disheartening that what the Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) published as the composition of the committee is completely at variance with what was agreed with critical stakeholders of the party, including the Deputy National Chairman , Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja and the Zonal Vice Chairman of the party in the South West, Soji Adagunodo.
“It is also instructive to note that Senator Ayu has not deemed it fit to call for reconciliation since two factional governorship candidates emerged in the state for the forthcoming election in the state. For a leader of an opposition party going into a crucial election with a ruling party, one begins to wonder what is actually motivating Ayu in carrying on the way he has been doing lately in the crisis in Osun.
“One is tempted to ask, Is Ayu working in favour of the ruling party to ensure PDP suffers defeat again? Or is he blinded so much by the alleged gratification he is getting from the Adeleke family to the point of not knowing what is right from what is wrong? Or is he actually a ‘cash and carry’ national chairman as a PDP Senator from the state had alleged?
“We are alarmed that if nothing is urgently done to stem the tide, the PDP may just have to forget about the forthcoming election, as we will surfer defeat at the polls, not because we do not have the capacity to win but because of Ayu’s unbridled biases and his inability to elevate the interest and good of the party above his personal interests.
“It is on record that disenchanted party men and women are already making plans to move enmass to other parties to seek relevance and pursue their ambitions, while others are spoiling for a showdown. Is that what Ayu wants?”, the group said.
The statement further called on the founding fathers, Trustees of the party and other critical stakeholders, including governors elected on the platform of the party, to call Senator Ayu to order before he destroys the Osun PDP.
“We are calling on the founding fathers of the PDP, members of the Board of Trustees and PDP governors to urgently call Senator Ayu to order before it is too late in the day. It should be noted that it is not only the Osun governorship election that is at stake but the 2023 general elections, which the party may be actively working towards losing if nothing is done urgently”, the statement added.
