Zoning: 120 South- West PDP leaders meet in Akure

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party
in the South-West over the zoning of national
offices takes a new dimension today when 120
party leaders in the zone meet in Akure, the
Ondo State capital, to discuss the issue.

Each of the six states in the zone is expected to
send 20 representatives to the meeting.

The meeting, it was gathered, was called to
discuss the discordant tunes arising from the
region due to the failure of the zone to present
a candidate for the office of the national
chairman of the party.

The office, which is said to be meant to be
zoned to the South-West, has been zoned to the
North-East allegedly at the instance of a group in
the zone loyal to Governor Ayodele Fayose of
Ekiti State and Senator Buruji Kashamu.

Kashamu, who is described as the financier of
the party in the zone, was also said to have
sponsored a delegation from the South-West,
which claimed that the zone didn’t want the
office of the national chairman of the PDP.

Prominent leaders of the party in the zone had
denied the allegation, saying Buruji and his
group, including Fayose, were speaking for
themselves.

The meeting in Akure, according to sources, is
meant to send a signal to the national
leadership of the party that the zone is not
going to accept what a source described as the
“injustice done to it.”

A member of the Board of Trustees of the
party, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, confirmed that
the meeting would hold in Akure on Wednesday
(today).
Babatope, who is also a former Minister of
Transportation, said the meeting would take a
stand on the decision of the zone.

He said at no time did the zone agree that it
didn’t want the office of the National Chairman
of the PDP, stating that those who took a
position on the matter at the national
secretariat of the party were not sent.
He said, “We didn’t say we don’t want the office.

It is the turn of the people of the zone to
present a candidate for the party. We have been
relegated to the background and I can tell you
that the injustice won’t stand.

“After the Akure meeting, we would come out
with a strong word and communique to sound a
note of warning to those who think they can take
the people of the zone for granted in the party.”

Meanwhile, in order to neutralise the voice that
might come out of the meeting, it was gathered
that the National Chairman of the party, Senator
Ali Modu Sheriff, had mandated Kashamu to
organise another meeting in his Ijebu Igbo
home.

Sheriff, who is also interested in retaining his
office, is being supported by Fayose and
Kashamu.
Kashamu, representing Ogun East in the Senate,
defended his decision to hold a parallel
meeting, saying he was not directed to hold the
meeting.

He told our correspondent, through his
spokesperson, Mr. Austin Oniyokor, on Tuesday
that he was sure of pulling a bigger crowd to
Ijebu Igbo than the Akure meeting.

He added, “We have invited all members of the
BoT from the zone. A member of the BoT,
Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, will chair the meeting.

“We have invited all PDP past and serving
governors from the zone, past and serving
members of the state Assembly, governorship
candidates and their deputies in the 2015
election, 50 leaders from each of the states
apart from those already listed.

“The agenda is to deliberate on the offices
zoned to the South-West and how to share the
offices among the states.”