Eddy Olafeso, a former national vice-chairman (South) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said the decision of the screening committee to disqualify him and two others from contesting for national positions in next week’s national convention was based on a false petition by faceless individuals who were desperate to stop them.
Olafeso, Adewale Oladipo, Oke Muo-Aroh, and Akintan Oludaisi were last week disqualified by the convention selection committee.
The chairman of the convention committee, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, said the aspirants were disqualified because they sued the party and attempted to stop the national convention.
“So if you’ve taken the party to Court without exhausting the internal grievance mechanism and you’re trying to stop the agreement,” Fintiri said.
However, in a statement on Tuesday to BusinessDay, personally signed by him, Olafeso noted that nobody was disqualified, explaining that they were rather not cleared by the screening committee of the party.
He said he never took the party to court to stop the national convention, adding that what they did was to approach the Court to interpret the constitution of the party on the controversy surrounding the tenure of the ousted national chairman, Uche Secondus.
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Olafeso said he had decided to withdraw from the contest because the process was programmed to exclude him and others while reaffirming his commitment to the party.
According to him, “We never took the party to court to stop any convention; what we did was to approach the Court to interpret the constitution of the party on the controversy surrounding the tenure of the ousted national chairman.
“This was done with good intention to save the party from further crisis. And the case has since been withdrawn from the court a long time ago to exhaust internal conflicts resolution mechanisms for the overall interest of the party.
Speaking further, “I wasn’t disqualified and no one was disqualified. We were not cleared by the screening committee and that is why we have an appeal screening committee. The appeal has the final say. I have already appealed the verdict of the screening committee. We have evidence of withdrawal of the court case a long time ago.
“This is pure politics to scheme me and others out of the race. The appeal screening committee will sit on Saturday and we will be there to seek justice. All my supporters should remain calm and undeterred. I will contest this election and win with a very wide margin. The PDP is bigger than individuals and the party knows what is good for it.”
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