A Peoples Democratic Party group in Ekiti State, the PDP Patriots, has advised the party and presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to be wary of membership of the Atiku/PDP Campaign Committee in the state.
The PDP Patriots Publicity Secretary, Richard Akinpelu, who advised on the need for people who are interested in Atiku’s victory rather than selfish gains to constitute the committee, warned that putting stooges of former Governor Ayodele Fayose in the state campaign committee would be counter-productive.
Akinpelu in a press statement in Ado Ekiti said, “We have authoritatively learnt of Fayose’s list of stooges which he sent to the party headquarters in Abuja for approval as those to be in charge of the presidential campaign in Ekiti. We make bold to say that majority of the names on the list are incapable of making decisions that will lead to the victory of the party in the state.”
He added, “In Ekiti today, supporters of Alhaji Abubakar are divided into three, the aggrieved PDP members who left for the Social Democratic Party, the second group is PDP members and supporters who have had enough of former governor Fayose’s antics and the third are members comfortable with the former governor’s style.
“Whoever will direct the Atiku campaign in Ekiti must be a personality with the ability to rally round these three groups and not a former governorship candidate suggested by former Governor Fayose.
“For effective result, whoever will direct the campaign in Ekiti must be appealing to more than half of the 67,000 persons who had since parted ways with the PDP following the governorship primaries in 2022,” he said.
The PDP Patriots advised Atiku to avoid a repeat of what happened in the party in the state during the governorship campaign when the All Progressives Congress and the SDP completely overshadowed the PDP media team due to high handedness, lack of reinforcement and support which were needed to boost the morale of team members.
“It was on that note that half of the PDP media team members resigned their appointment within a week into the commencement of the gubernatorial campaigns. The people at present nominated by the former governor for the committee are not capable,” Akinpelu stated.
