By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The Deputy Minority Whip in the Senate, Senator Biodun Olujimi, has expressed worries over the defection of prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State to another party in the recent time.
Olujimi, a PDP governorship aspirant, said the way the leadership of the party have been sitting on the fence on the festering crisis in the party was not helpful, adding that its laxity to resolve the governorship crisis has forced some aspirants out of the party.
PDP governorship aspirants and former deputy governors, Sikiru Lawal and Bisi Omoyeni, as well as the former Nigeria’s envoy to Canada, Dare Bejide, had a few days ago resigned their membership of the party and joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Speaking in Ikere Ekiti on Saturday after commissioning some projects in Ekiti South senatorial district, where she is
representing, Olujimi said she would personally reach out to the defectors to woo them back to the party.
Olujimi said the projects commissioned were road, drainages, solar light for erosion control in some towns, adding that she has included the Kabba-Omuo-Ifaki and Ado-Ifaki-Otun roads in the 2018 budgets for reconstruction.
She said: “It is worrisome that we are losing our prominent members. Former deputy governors Lawal and Omoyeni are major stakeholders in our party. They worked hard in the last election of 2014 for the enthronement of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s government.
“But I am a fighter, I will fight on until the right things are done
in the PDP. Though, the Senator David Mark-led reconciliation
committee set up to look into Ekiti issue has given us its words that the primary will be free and fair. The leadership itself didn’t want their names soiled over Ekiti issue.
“All the governorship aspirants in the party are working together to ensure that we rescue our party. To allay the fears that no one can rig the primary, the statutory delegate list have been given to us from Abuja, it is available because it is our property.
“PDP leaders won’t want to go through pains and throes of litigations witnessed in the past, so let them come back and I want to allay their fears that the primary will be free, fair and credible,†she said.
Olujimi assured PDP members that all the crises in the party will be resolved amicably for the PDP to approach the election as a united family.
“Governor Fayose is good in so many ways, but at times, he could be overbearing but we have to learn how to manage ourselves and that is what politics is all about.
“Our leadership should take the blame for standing with their hands akimbo, this is not good. They waited for so long and allow these crises to fester, but now they will wake up having known that there are problems,†she said.
