Dr Bayo Faforiji, factional chairman of the PDP in Osun State, speaks with OLUWOLE IGE on the crisis in the party and the way forward.
WHAT do you think is the way forward for the PDP in Osun regarding its intra-party crisis?
What I have said is that the congress that was conducted was against the spirit of the constitution of the party. If that congress is upheld by the national secretariat of our party, then I see no future for the PDP, because that is the party that has no regard for its own constitution. Even though I am a foundation member of that party, which I joined in 1998, this is not the spirit that was created at that time. If these people that have taken over the PDP think this is the only way they can run the party, the best thing is for anybody that is serious to leave that party. Therefore, I am looking at what the national secretariat will do.
But, there are cases instituted in courts by some aggrieved members of the PDP in Osun. Why not wait for the outcome?
We didn’t go to court. Some aggrieved persons went to court. But, the moment the national leadership recognised the Adagunodo faction or the one-sided congresses, I am out of the party.
Is there any room for possible compromise from your side if there is intervention from the stakeholders of your party?
Which kind of intervention? Is it from the state or at the national level? At the state level, there is nobody that can invite me to discuss this issue, because they have all taken sides.
If the national leadership of the PDP decides to broker truce over this crisis, would your faction be ready to shift some grounds?
Yes, that can only be possible if they organsise a free and fair congress; I mean fresh and all-inclusive congress. If they do that, maybe there is going to be a way out of the crisis. But such congress should be organised according to the dictates of the party. They came to Osun and said ward congress should be conducted on Friday, local government congress should be conducted on Sunday and state congress was slated for Tuesday. But they rushed everything on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, because, what they were doing was illegal. Our national convention said there are only three local governments that have not conducted ward congress in Osun State. Anything beyond that would betray the spirit of the constitution and it will not stand. And if anybody rushes it now, it is going tell on whoever wins the governorship ticket of the PDP. So, it was not in their best interest to say they are going ahead with that congress.
Are you not worried that this crisis may affect the electoral fortune of the PDP in September 22, 2018 governorship poll in Osun?
If the party should tread this path, I won’t be sorry for it, because definitely you cannot build something on nothing. With what is on the ground now, if they think they are going to succeed with it, it would be very funny.
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