Ask Fayose to reverse alleged imposition of candidates
The storm raging in the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State is yet to abate as Senator Ayo Arise and other aggrieved aspirants yesterday reject­ed the results of last Satur­day’s congresses conducted by the party in the state.
Arise and the other aspi­rants had alleged that Gover­nor Ayodele Fayose was using his position to manipulate the delegates’ list for the congress last Friday. The angry PDP chieftains had threatened to resist attempt by the governor to impose any candidate on the members, saying it would put in peril the future of the party in the state.
Addressing newsmen in Oye Ekiti yesterday, Arise, who spoke on behalf of other aspirants in Ekiti North Sena­torial District, alleged that Governor Fayose and the PDP congress panel, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, did not dis­tribute electoral materials to any of the five councils in the district.
Arise, who called for a new congress that should be con­ducted in line with the PDP’s constitution, said he would of­ficially lodge his complaint be­fore the PDP congress appeal panel and call for the reversal of congress to prevent a back­lash during the 2015 polls.
Other aggrieved House of Representatives aspirants, who rejected the results yester­day included a former federal lawmaker, Aribisala, former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Patrick Ajigbol­amu, former Ikole council boss, Mr. Wole Ayeni and Ayo Ogunsakin.
But describing Arise’s al­legations as a ranting of a bad loser, governor Fayose, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, de­nied imposing any candidate, saying the aspirants were given a level-playing ground, partic­ularly the Assembly aspirants.
His words: “The party was equally given free hand to determine the delegates. Evi­dence is there to prove that the leaders decided this to avoid rancour.
“The allegations by Senator Arise emanated from a sinking heart. Normally, a loser in Af­rican setting will never accept defeat but will engage in name-callings to rubbish a credible process.”
Lending credence to Fay­ose’s position, the PDP act­ing Chairman, Mr. Taelolu Otitoju, who said he had not received any official complain from Arise, advised aggrieved members to forward their grievances to the appeal panel that was already on ground to tackle issues emanating from the Saturday’s congress.

Ekiti PDP crisis: Arise, others reject congress’ results