The candidate for South-West Chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, has accused former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose of planning to destroy the PDP before moving to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Arapaja, who said Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde remains the face and leader of the party in the region, alleged that Fayose was notorious for always disrespecting people in authority and causing confusion for selfish gains.
The former Nigerian Ambassador to Jordan and Iraq was selected by the Makinde-led faction to contest the South-West PDP chairmanship position at the March 6, 2021 congress.
MEANWHILE, Fayose, through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, said Arapaja was not qualified to make the allegations, saying that he would not join issues with him.
Fayose said: “We won’t join issues with politically-unstable minds like him. When did he return to PDP after leaving the party in 2014?
“Is it not funny that a man who happily worked against PDP in the 2015 and 2019 elections is the one now lecturing us about loyalty and commitment to the party?”
Arapaja, who spoke in an interview with journalists, said it would be disheartening if the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party gives undue preference and recognition to the Fayose’s faction by postponing the planned South-West congress.
He alleged that Fayose was engaging in anti-party affairs by praise-singing leaders of the ruling party and openly identifying with them with the grand plot of breaking the PDP before joining the APC.
Asked if his faction would consider a boycott or conducting a parallel election if the NWC postpones or recognises the Fayose faction, Arapaja said: “How can they (NWC) recognise the other side because they are just making noise?
He, however, noted that if given the opportunity to lead the party, his main task would be to reunite the party in the state and region while also restoring it to its winning ways as it was in the past that the region was dominated and ruled by PDP governors, adding: “As I said before, reconciliation is the bedrock. It is good to reconcile if we have the same objective.
“If truly one is part of a house, one should not be part of those that seek the destruction of that house.”
“So, if they are sincere and they want to reconcile, that’s the only way we can move and they will also recognise the ordained leader of the party.”
