There was a substantial divergence of opinion within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, over the continued stay in office of the Ondo State deputy governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, despite dumping the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform where he was elected as deputy governor of the state.
While the PDP in the South-west zone urged Ajayi to toe line of honour by resigning his position as the Ondo deputy governor, the party in the state dissociated itself from the statement and said it does not represent the opinion of the PDP in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the PDP in the zone, the zonal Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Ayo Fadaka, said it will be more honourable for Ajayi to resign his position than being impeached,
Fadaka while speaking on a Channels TV Sunrise daily on Tuesday, said Agboola should resign from office since he can longer cooperate with the Governor who put so much trust in him.
According to him, there must be a level of standard people must keep even in politics, noting politics is not as bad as the way it is being played by desperate politicians.
Fadaka who frowned at the manner some politicians play politics said it shows that some politicians in the country do not have a conscience, but noted that there are still politicians with a conscience around.
He, however, said it is left for the governor to decide on steps to be taken, whether Ajayi who is now in PDP is still his deputy governor or not.
ALSO READ:Â 774,000 NDE jobs: NASS members clash with Keyamo over recruitment
He said: “Impeachment is expected to be initiated if it is considered that person to be impeached has committed high crimes against the system. But again, with the decamping of Agboola can it be construed to be a high crime against the state?
“The constitution says that for every Governor that will contest, he should have a running mate and that’s why there is always a deputy governor to assist the Governor. The Governor picked Agboola Ajayi, the PDP was not part of whatever they were doing when they decided to run with each other.
” And if they still feel comfortable running with each other, we do not want to have an input into it. Ordinarily, it is up to Agboola Ajayi to do what I think is honourable by resigning himself if he feels he could no longer cooperate with the man who placed a level of trust in him to assist him in doing his job. ”
Fadaka also called on bigwigs in other parties who have ties with the PDP to return to the party, adding that the PDP is always happy to gain back a lost soul.
However, the PDP in the state said Fadaka statement should be seen as his personal opinion and should not be seen as the party’s position.
In a statement issued and signed by the state Publicity Director of the party, Zadok Akintoye dissociated the PDP in the state from the statement.
Akintoye in the statement said “our attention has been drawn to a statement made by Mr Ayo Fadaka in his capacity as a former South West Publicity Secretary of the PDP via an interview granted to Channels Television on Sunrise Daily, wherein he opined that the Deputy Governor and member of the PDP, Hon Agboola Ajayi should resign his position on moral grounds.
“The Ondo state PDP wishes to dissociate itself from this statement and inform the general public that the position expressed by Mr Ayo Fadaka does not represent the opinion of the PDP in Ondo state.
“Agboola Ajayi remains the Deputy Governor of the state and is not under any compulsion (either moral or legal) to resign his position.
“The party, therefore, advised the general public to disregard this statement as it does not reflect the position of the party on this matter”
and then