News Investigators/ The demand by the Ondo South Senatorial District for the chairmanship position of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is generating tension within the party in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP has, of recent, been facing some challenges, as its members are defecting in droves to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Rising from a meeting of no fewer than 120 stakeholders on Monday in Okitipupa, Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state, the south senatorial district unanimously demanded that the chairmanship position be zoned to the district.
NAN reports that out of the 27 years of PDP’s existence in the state, the north and central senatorial districts had held the chairmanship position for 13 and 12 years respectively, while the south only served as chairman for just one year.
Some of the PDP chieftains, who spoke in separate interviews with NAN after the meeting, said that the chairmanship position which had rotated between the north and central senatorial districts for 25 years must come to the south.
According to them, the senatorial district has always delivered the largest votes in the party in any election in the state and, therefore, should not be marginalised in the chairmanship position.
They also warned the PDP Elders’ Committee, whose constitutional responsibilities was solely advisory and dispute settlement, not to attempt setting up any zoning committee which, they said, fell within purview of the State Working Committee (SWC).
They urged the Caretaker Committee, representing the SWC, to respect the law of equity, fairness and justice by not zoning the chairmanship to the north senatorial district again.
Chairman of PDP in Ondo South, Elder Amos Fadope, told NAN that he summoned the stakeholders to the meeting when he noticed some developments which were inimical to the development of the party in the state.
According to him, Ondo PDP will clock 27 years in the state, out of which the north had served for 13 years and central 12 years, while the south had only served for one year.
“The north is holding the highest rank of the political structure, and the chairmanship position is supposed to come to Ondo south, but the north is planning to hijack it.
“We can cede other political positions to them except the chairmanship. We stakeholders in the south have unanimously agreed and made our position known to them. We urge the caretaker committee to do the needful,” Fadope said.
Also, Sen. Nicholas Tofowomo, noted that the south had been maginalised in the chairmanship position of the party.
Tofowomo, who represented Ondo South in the National Assembly, alleged that some party chieftains in the north and central had connived to thwart the chances of the south from producing the chairman.
“Ondo South PDP contributes the largest votes in any election in the state. It is our turn to have the chairmanship position for the unity and progress of the party.
“The maginalisation must stop; those conniving to take the position back to the north will fail and our stand on the issue will come to pass,” Tofowomo said.
A former Deputy Chairman of PDP in the state, Tola Alabere, also said that there was no going back on the zoning of the chairmanship position to the south senatorial district.
Alabere, who was also a former acting state chairman, warned the elders’ committee not to interfere in the matter, maintaining that its role within the party was purely advisory.
“The zoning of chairmanship position to Ondo south is not negotiable; it must come to us. I urge the caretaker committee to allow justice and equity to prevail in this matter,” Alabere said.
Chief Oyedele Ibini, a former state secretary of the party, equally said that the agitation for the chairmanship position was clear and that nothing would stop the south from getting it.
“Why will the south continue to be maginalised while other districts are benefitting largely from what belongs to all of us. We are equivocally saying that this time, it is the turn of Ondo south and that must be respected.
“We have made our decision known to other parts of the state; we don’t want our party to be polarized but we stand for justice, fairness and equity,” Ibini said.
Another PDP chieftain, Mrs Christiana Ebiseniju, also said that the consensus among the stakehokders was for the chairmanship position to move to the south.
“We are with one voice and we’ve spoken loud and clear. Our decision is for Ondo south to get the chairmanship position and that is sacrosanct,” she said.
NAN