A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Chief Akintayo Akin-deko, Thursday insisted that he would not withdraw his court case against the national leadership of the party until the leaders follow the constitution of the party in selecting leaders and in taking other decisions.
Akin-Deko and some other party members filed a suit against the party’s national convention held in Port-Harcourt last month and another slated for Abuja, the nation’s capital.
He explained that only the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party can decide the processes for decisions, not governors or any other group of powerful individuals.
He said this in his Ibadan home Thursday when former President Olusegun Obasanjo paid a private visit to the matriarch of the Akin-deko family, Chief Ebun Akin-deko.
The PDP chieftain said: “I’m one of the people who went to court to stop the conventions at Port-Harcourt and Abuja, insisting that the party must follow its own constitution. The problem started in 2011 when some people especially from the South south insisted that former president Goodluck Jonathan should run for a second term. That impunity has been continuing since then and came to a head when the governors decided that they were going to impose Alh. Alli Modu Sherif on us. The grassroots members are resisting it thoroughly, that Alhaji Sherif cannot be there and that governors cannot impose a chairman on the party. Only the BoT can constitute the party’s working committee. Alh. Ahmed Makarfi is an excellent man. Fortunately, he is also a member of the BoT. Fortunately, he is a former governor. So, he is the bridge that the BoT will use to stop this madness that is going on right now where people are invading our Abuja secretariat as if we are going back to the old days of Wild, Wild West. Unfortunately, they are attacking themselves needlessly over an issue of principles.”
“We have insisted we will not remove that case from court until the party follows the path of the constitution. Nobody can walk in from the streets, from another party and try to impose themselves on those of us that have been patient for so many years to recover our party. Once the party elders, the founding fathers, have structured an agreement, then we will withdraw the cases from court,” he said.
Akin-deko, however, believes that the crisis rocking the national leadership of the party would be resolved in a matter of days.
On allegation that the PDP crisis is being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC), he rather blamed the former for opening itself up for alleged attacks from other parties and even from disgruntled members.
“If there is no rule of law in the country, anybody can pick up something tomorrow and start anarchy. That is what is going on in the PDP now. They must go back and observe the rule of law,” He insisted.
On why Obasanjo visited the family, Akin-deko explained that the former president, who was a close friend of his late father, Chief Gabriel Akin-deko, came to see Mrs Akin-deko to ascertain her well-being in another step to ensure that the 92-year old woman was still in good condition after the sad incident in which two of her grandchildren died in an accident in Iyabo Obasanjo’s car about 13 years ago.
Since that incident, Akin-deko said the former president has been finding time once in a while to see the Mama to ascertain her well-being.
The late Chief Akin-deko was a Minister of Agriculture.
(Today.ng)