He said it was wrong and misleading for anybody else to lay claim to the chairmanship position, contending that “as a follow up to the victory of Makarfi in the Supreme Court, I Dr Bayo Faforiji is the authentic chairman of the PDP in Osun State”.
Speaking during an interview with Sunday Tribune shortly after the stakeholders meeting of the party on Friday in Osogbo, he maintained that my invitation to the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the PDP, which was held on the 18th of July, at Wadata Plaza, Abuja attested to the fact that I am the Osun State chairman of our great party”.
According to Faforiji, “I was invited and accredited to partake in the NEC meeting as the chairman of the PDP in Osun. I believe that as a result of that, the party in Osun is no longer divided, with only one secretariat in Ogo Oluwa, Osogbo, here and all the members are under the umbrella of the executive committee led by me”.
On the insinuation that he was not allowed into the NEC meeting in Abuja, he stated that “I know for sure that Hon Soji Adagunodo was not invited to that meeting. I was duly invited and I attended that meeting. If any other person claims that he attended the meeting, let such person show evidence to that effect”.
Faforiji continued, “if you look at the list of the state chairmen brought to that meeting and displayed on social media, you will discover that under Osun State, it is the name of Dr Bayo Faforiji that was there. There is no controversy at all. I was invited, accredited and participated in the meeting. At the end of the meeting, I addressed the national chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and he told us that in South West, we may have some few skirmishes, which the NEC and National Working Committee (NWC) would look into”.
When asked that one of the Board of Trustees (BoT) members, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun raised an objection during the Abuja meeting when he was recognised as the chairman of the PDP in Osun, he responded thus, “he (Oyedokun) actually raised an objection and the NEC said they were going to look into it. The fact remains that I was invited and accredited as the chairman and I remain the chairman”.
While recalling that there was harmonisation between his group and that of Hon Soji Adagunodo before the conduct of July 8 by election for Osun West Senatorial District, Faforiji posited that “we followed the instruction of the national secretariat of the party to shelve our differences to achieve electoral victory for Senator Ademola Adeleke. He is a PDP senator and I am the chairman of the party in Osun”.
On how peace and cohesion can be sustained in the party, he said “my advice to Hon Soji Adagunodo and his followers is that they should accept the situation calmly and join hands with the main stream of the PDP now headed by me so that we can work together towards 2018. In life, no condition is permanent”
“If I cooperated with him (Adagunodo) when he was a recognised chairman under national chairmanship of Senator Alimodu Sheriff and we were able to do what we did, I don’t see any reason why he should not cooperate with me now that I am the chairman of Osun PDP under the national leadership of Senator Ahmed Makarfi”.
“That is what we need in Osun if we are going to deliver next year. The rumour of the Sheriff group going to join the mega party should not be allowed in Osun State because doing that would amount to working against the interest of the PDP. I am urging them that they should not go and join the mega party. They should remain in the PDP and let us build this house together”.
Commenting on the possibility of giving concession to the Adagunodo faction in the sharing some the executive position, Faforiji disclosed that “shortly before the NEC meeting, our leaders initiated a peace meeting and at that meeting, all the various interests were brought together and a committee was set up to look into the modalities of both of us working together.
“I definitely would go along with whatever is recommended by the leaders of the party, just to let peace reign. We don’t just want to have the state executive, but we want to have the state government under the platform of the PDP in 2018. If it comes to the level of making a sacrifice to have some kind of harmonisation, I would definitely cooperate with the leaders of the party”, he added.
However, efforts made to get the reaction of Hon Soji Adagunodo, who is another chairman of the PDP in Osun were unsuccessful as several calls put through to his mobile phone rang out without a response, neither did he respond to text message forwarded to him.
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