Ondo PDP faction suspends Agagu, dissolves exco

Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu

Some leaders and stakeholders of the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday announced the suspension of a former governor of the state, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, from the party.
They also announced the dissolution of the Dr. Omotayo Dairo-led state executive council and its replacement with a nine-member interim management committee to harmonise all factions and tendencies in the party.
The development, which was anounced at a news conference addressed by a former special adviser on political affairs to Agagu, Chief Segun Adegoke, on behalf of the leaders, in Akure had further worsened the crisis rocking the state chapter of the PDP.
The leaders said they rejected the suspension of the Defence Minister, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, (SAN), from the party by the state executive and the list of 10 names for federal appointments in the state allegedly compiled by Agagu and Dairo.
They noted that though their decision was painful, “it was taken in the interest of the party.”
But reacting to the development, Dairo said the people, who, he described as “spent forces in their local government areas,” lacked the locus standi to proclaim the state executive dissolved or to suspend any member of the party.”
He said, “the list being complained about was compiled with due process by the state Working Committee and 15 leaders of the party across the state.
“These leaders are spent forces in their constituencies, as far as we are concerned they are not known to our party, they are not known to the constitution because they are ex-this, ex-that.
“We want them to know that this is not a monacharchial institution, where once you assume leadership, you are there for life, their local government areas have produced vibrant young men that have displaced many of these people.”
Also, the deputy governor in the Agagu administration, Chief Omolade Oluwateru, said the leaders and stakeholders had no right to suspend anybody from the party and that the list being contested was compiled with input from the SWC and some leaders of the party.
Oluwateru said, “They said they are dissolving the exco; who are they, what are their positions in the party?”
“There are ways of doing this, the executive council was constituted by a congress and it is only the congress that can dissolve the executive, so it is very wrong for a handful set of people to hire people and pronounce the exco dissolved,” he stated.
By Sunday Aborisade            Courtesy Of: Punch