Oyo PDP Factions Disagree Over Harmonisation

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State on Tuesday disagreed with the Rashidi Ladoja faction of the party over a vote of no confidence passed by the Ladoja faction in the chairman of the party in the South-West, Eddy Oyefeso.

 The vote of no confidence followed Oyefeso’s role in the harmonisation of factional executives in the state.
After two state congresses were held by the two factions of the party in November 2017, it was reported that the party decided to harmonise the executives of the two factions in order to achieve peace, but the Ladoja group opposed the move, arguing that Oyefeso made the move without the blessing of the party at the national level.

Mustapha, who is in the Ladoja faction of the party, had on Monday said that the vote of no confidence was passed by the State Working Committee of the party after reviewing Oyefeso’s role in the harmonisation of the party executives.

But at the end of a meeting by the other faction of the party on Tuesday, a statement signed by a former Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Hosea Agboola, affirmed its confidence in Oyefeso. The statement said the former chairman of the caretaker committee of the party, Ahmed Makarfi, was aware of the effort and had assented to it.

The statement partly read, “It is a fact that the press conference purportedly held and addressed by Mustafa was filled with half truths, outright misrepresentation and wishful thinking.

“It is unfortunate that this factional group would wish away the harmonisation of the Oyo State executives which was in the first place the template submitted for the resolution of the congresses which were separately held in Ibadan last year, and which was subsequently acceded to at a meeting jointly attended by leaders of both factions at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday February 20, 2018.

“Accusing the Zonal Chairman of South-West, Oyefeso, of connivance and passing a vote of no confidence in him is as strange as it is unfair. It would appear that they are merely looking for a scapegoat.”