The Nigerian political parties propensity to be engulfed in unnecessarily crises will not abate soon as long as these parties lacks internal, true and transparent democracy. The crisis that rocked the All Progressives Congress during its primary election for the gubernatorial candidate for the coming Ondo State election is now rearing its ugly head in the Peoples Democratic Party as well.
The protest against the substitution of Eyitayo Jegede’s name with Jimoh Ibrahim as governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continued in Akure,the state capital and other parts of the state yesterday.
The protest brought the state to a standstill. The protesters are armed with placards with inscriptions such as: “Justice Abang is a disgrace to judiciary, Abang is rotten egg, FG and judiciary should allow INEC to be independent, Justice Abang is an APC , Ondo state women are angry, we have right to determine our candidate, INEC is no longer independent under Federal Government .”
The protest moved from Ijapo street, the PDP secretariat to the Palace of the Deji of Akure kingdom, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the state chairman of the party, Engr. Clement Faboyede, said they are in the palace to intimate the monarch about the happenings in the state. “We don’t want Ondo State to be on fire because our state is peaceful. Some cabals in All Progressive Congress (APC) are using Jimoh Ibrahim against the candidacy of Jegede, Jimoh is not a PDP member but rather a card carrying member of Accord party.
“No court can impose any candidate on our party. Please, appeal to this judges to stop all this drama they are doing. Eyitayo is our candidate and nobody can use trick to stop our candidate. We are not going to take that from them. We are begging Kabiyesi to intercede on our behalf to talk to INEC,” Faboyede pleaded.
The Oba in his response, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene the crises arising from substitution of Eyitayo Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim ,urged INEC to correct any mistake they might have made.
The monarch said,” we don’t want anything to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of this state. In 1983, we lost some of our sons and daughters, we don’t want anything of such again.
Meanwhile , the PDP caucus of the State House of Assembly has condemned the recent replacement of the party candidate by the INEC.
The lawmakers said as part of statutory delegates of the party in any primaries, the emergence of Jimoh Ibrahim is antithetical to the party and the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Akure, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele said, the imposition of Ibrahim as the candidate of the party was not in tandem with contemporary democracy and amounted to a subversion of the mandate that was freely given to Eyitayo Jegede.
