Winner of the Osun State PDP gubernatorial primary held at the WOCDIF Events Centre, Osogbo on March 8, 2022, Prince Dotun Babayemi has been expelled from the party.
His Ward exco members announced his expulsion penultimate Friday.
The Otun Balogun Ward 2 PDP officials accused Babayemi of anti-party activities.
Otun Balogun Ward 2 is located in Gbongan, Ayedaade local government, Osun State. Prince Dotun Babayemi, being an indigene of Gbongan is a member of the party in Otun Balogun Ward 2.
Mr. Ogunleye Bukayo, who presided over the press conference held to announce the expulsion of Babayemi from the party is the PDP Secretary in the Ward.
The PDP Ward officials also noted that Babayemi had only joined the party recently, precisely in 2019.
“Recall that Prince Babayemi was originally and formerly of the APC before his resignation from the party and he later joined the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and he was the Osun West ADP senate candidate in the 2019 National Assembly elections. He eventually defected from the ADP and joined the PDP in late 2019’ the PDP Ward officials said.
They also gave a narrative of how parallel guber primaries were held in the state on March 8, 2022.
‘Recall also that the Osun State PDP Governorship primary election was held on March 2022 at Osogbo Township Stadium under the supervision of the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo as directed by the National Working Committee of PDP, statutorily monitored by INEC from Abuja and Osun State offices. Whereas Senator Ademola Adeleke duly and physically attended the primary election, Prince Dotun Babayemi chose not to attend but organized a separate one elsewhere at the WOCDIF Events Centre, Osogbo, unknown to, and without the authority of the National Working Committee of the PDP. Since then, Prince Babayemi had engaged in several legal actions against the party and a series of other anti-party activities’, they added.
The PDP Ward officials also listed some points to justify the decision to wield the big stick and end his membership in the party.
‘While he had lost his court cases at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, he has again instituted a legal action against the party at the Supreme Court.
Despite the interventions of the National Working Committee of PDP, party stakeholders, and elder statesmen to persuade Prince Babayemi to withdraw all court cases filed against the party, he has refused to yield to words of reasoning and he’s hell-bent on pursuing legal actions against the party with the sole aim of truncating the wishes of the good people of Osun State through the mandate given to Senator Ademola Adeleke.
Following receipt of petitions bordering on the state of affairs of our party and alleging in particular serious anti-party roles being played by Prince Dotun Babayemi and his supporters and clandestine moves that could jeopardize the chances of victory of our party in the 2022 Osun gubernatorial election, the Executive Committee of Peoples Democratic Party in Otun Balogun Ward 2, Ayedaade Local Government, Gbongan held an emergency meeting on the 12th of July, 2022 and after extensive deliberations took a decision to set up a seven-man disciplinary committee to look into the petitions and come up with appropriate recommendations.
In order to avail him the opportunity to respond to the allegations, the disciplinary committee at its inaugural sitting on the 13th of July, 2022 issued a letter of invitation to appear before the committee within seven days to Prince Babayemi, delivered at his residence, Babayemi’s house, Obada Area, Gbongan, Osun State, duly acknowledged and received by the private guard at his house.
Prince Babayemi, however, failed to appear before the committee to respond to the allegations at the expiration of the seven days which lapsed on 19th of July, 2022.
The committee on the 19th of July, 2022 thereafter looked into the petitions and made the following findings:
- That the state of affairs of our party in Gbongan and in Osun State generally is such that had its root in the promotion of factions within the party by Prince Dotun Babayemi and his allies and was further fuelled by his group’s setting up of parallel executives in all the wards, an action which has impacted negatively in the fortunes of our party and caused sharp divisions among the party members.
- That Prince Dotun Babayemi’s serial legal litigations and court actions against the party was a deliberate ploy to rock the boat and destabilize the party, an anti-party activity that had caused disaffection among party members, and deterred PDP sympathizers from identifying with the party in Gbongan.
The committee viewed Prince Babayemi’s decision to continue to institute several lawsuits against the party as an affront and his refusal to withdraw same despite the intervention of the party’s leadership both at the state and National levels as complete disobedience to the party’s lawful directives.
iii. That rather than serving as an influencer and a rallying point for all members of the party at ward meetings, Prince Dotun Babayemi had not been attending the ward meetings since October 2021 till date. His absence at ward meetings over a long period of time spanning October 2021 to date was perceived as a wrong signal to the members of the party of his indisposition to the unity of the party. The committee observed that Prince Babayemi’s persistent absence at ward meetings was self-orchestrated antics on purpose.
- That supporters and allies of Prince Babayemi made clandestine moves and held secret meetings with the APC with the aim of forging an alliance to generally work against our party in the last July 16th, 2022 gubernatorial election and vote for the APC across all the wards in Gbongan, an action considered as gross anti-party activities aimed at sabotaging the success and victory of PDP.
- The majority of voters in Gbongan felt disenchanted with the unwillingness of Prince Dotun Babayemi to forge a united and cohesive alliance with the party, an action which portrayed our party as too disunited, thus weakening our support base, and losing the confidence and sympathy of the majority of prospective voters.
The disciplinary committee seriously frowned at the actions of Prince Babayemi and considered his adamant postures and anti-party activities as embarrassing to the party, bringing to disrepute the name of our town and a discrete plan to sabotage and subvert the will of the people of Osun State.
The committee found Prince Dotun Babayemi as having engaged in serious anti-party activities to the detriment of the party and has breached the provisions of sections 58(1) (a),( b), (d), (e) (g), (h) (i), (k) and (l) of the constitution of PDP. To avoid further damning damages that may be too costly to bear on the party going forward, the disciplinary committee had recommended that Prince Dotun Babayemi be removed as a member of the People’s Democratic Party.
The Ward Executive Committee of the party at its meeting on 20th July 2022 received the report of the disciplinary committee, and after careful and extensive deliberations, ratified the report of the disciplinary committee.
The Ward Executive Committee of the Party in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 57(2) and 59 (1) (g) of the constitution of the PDP, hereby removes and expels Prince Dotun Babayemi from the Peoples Democratic Party. He, therefore, ceases to be a member of the PDP henceforth’ the PDP Ward officials submitted.
