PDP South-West Congress: I conceded defeat for peace to reign – Olafeso

Last updated Apr 16, 2021

The immediate past chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West zone, Dr Eddy Olafeso, has said he would not contest the result of the zonal congress that produced a former Oyo State deputy governor, Taofeeq Arapaja, as his successor.

Olafeso who said there were a lot of things the public didn’t know about the congress, noted that he only conceded defeat to give peace a chance in South West PDP.

“As far as the South West zonal Congress is concerned, it is about giving peace a chance even in the face of over-voting, security threat, voided votes to deliberately rig me out and the use of thugs,” Olafeso said.

According to him, “There are a lot of flaws and frauds. But as a party man who has been a member of the PDP for 22 years, I decided to give peace a chance in the PDP South West.

“It’s a fact they used thugs; it is obvious and should be noted how the rules were broken when Oyo State people were to cast their votes. They broke the rules when they merged all the tables and the people of Oyo State were writing together against the doctrine of a secret ballot system used for the conduct of the election when the other five states voted.

“The implication of this was that Mr A could see what Mr B wrote. The people could not vote according to their conscience as it was no more a secret ballot system like what was done in the other five states which participated in the congress.

“Apart from the controversial delegates list from Oyo State, it may interest you to also know that 10 out of my votes were voided. Ten votes were voided against me and also, a clear case of over-voting was established.”

While claiming that Fayose’s group is committed to the victory of PDP in all elections, Olafeso said, “Our group is committed to the victory of PDP in all elections. This is why we decided to give peace a chance so that the ruling APC won’t take advantage of the crisis.”

Zainab Sa’id

Source Leadershipng