Rising from an emergency meeting, North-East leaders of the Ali-Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Wednesday kicked against the
listing of Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim as the Ondo State governorship candidate of the party.
The leaders, under the aegis of ‘PDP Like-Minds, North-East Zonal Faction Loyal to Sen Modu Sheriff’, said following a careful review of the process leading to the emergence of Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as the party’s duly elected candidate, they had opted to endorse him.
The leaders attributed their decision to the transparence in Jegede’s emergence as the party’s flagbearer and his pedigree.
In a communiqué deposed to by the Convener of the group, Hon. Crowther Seth, the leaders explained that the process that produced Ibrahim as the party candidate was fraudulent and did not comply with normal process of conducting an election primary.
It noted that Jimoh Ibrahim was elected in Oyo State with no representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in attendance; whereas, Jegede was elected in Akure, the Ondo State capital, with INEC representatives present.
The leaders particularly had hard knocks for INEC for choosing to substitute the name of Jegede with Ibrahim’s.
“INEC’s travesty of justice in recognising Jimoh Ibrahim, instead of Tayo Jegede whose primaries it supervised, in Ondo, as the bonafide candidate of the PDP for the Ondo guber polls, calls to question the relevance of the electoral umpire in midwifing unimpeachable electoral outcomes in the country.”
The group further lambasted the INEC, saying, “INEC, after relying on the judgement of a court of coordinate jurisdiction to uphold the candidate presented by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction for the Edo State governorship election, should know that it was not bound to uphold the judgement coming from any high court, if not an appellate court, unless the commission is out to carry out a script.”
They, as such, called on their chairman, Sheriff to speak up and take a position instead of prevaricating; a situation which they said is further polarising the PDP.
The group also noted that from its findings, Jimoh Ibrahim lacked the political clout to win any election and that fielding him, would sink PDP in Ondo State.
The North-East leaders added: “We want to make it abundantly clear that our support for Tayo Jegede was devoid of partisanship. Our consideration has always been in conformity with democratic tenets. Our support is borne out of the conviction that Jegede’s pedigree and integrity, which are unassailable, put him ahead of his peers to best serve the electorate, most especially, his antecedents.”