James Sowole in Akure
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State tuesday slammed the former state Commissioner for Environment, Chief Sola Ebiseni, on his comments about the party’s gubernatorial primary elections, describing him as somebody interested in his personal gain.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Banji Okunomo, slammed Ebiseni in a statement on the comment of the former commissioner, who contested the governorship primary of the party on the platform of Ali Modu Sheriff’s faction against Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim.
Okunomo said it was wrong for Ebiseni to have equated the factional primary held in Ibadan with the valid one held in Akure.
The publicity secretary also noted that it was wrong for Ebiseni to have described the party’s primary as illegal and undemocratic while also equating the state party’s primary with the scam that occurred in Ibadan which produced Jimoh Ibrahim.
He stated that the mainstream of the PDP in the state held its primary on August 22, 2016 in Akure which produced the party’s flagbearer, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN).
Okunomo posited that the valid PDP primary election was not only democratic but followed all the legal procedures as stipulated in the party’s constitution.
He noted that an attestation to the legality and constitutionality of the valid PDP primary held in Akure is the manner in which the other aspirant, with which Jegede contested, Mr. Saka Lawal, accepted the result of the election and congratulated the winner.
Okunomo said it was over- ambition that made Ebiseni to approbate and reprobate at the same time.
“Ebiseni’s position is a confirmation of the initial stand of the party that the Sherrif’s faction and all its dealings in the state are illegal.
“Ebiseni’s action portrays that of a desperate person who is only concerned about his personal gains”, he said..
He said if Ebiseni had emerged as the product of the illegal primary that was organised by the illegal camp in Ibadan, he would not have come out to describe the process as illegal.
“When Ebiseni was serving as commissioner in the state for two consecutive terms under the present administration, and when he served as the governor’s nominee at the 2014 national conference, nothing was wrong with Governor Olusegun Mimiko but the war started when he failed to secure the governor’s endorsement.
“Now, Ebiseni has the courage to describe the governor as an autocrat when all he ever wanted was the governor to pick him as the anointed candidate of the party,” he said.
Okunomo therefore cautioned the former commissioner not to allow his ambition to overshadow him.
