•Say chairman's action is arbitrary Suspended members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State yesterday said the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, acted arbitrarily in suspending them, describing him as unable "to interpret what the party constitution says on such issues."
The suspended members said if the chairman were to be well informed, he wouldn't have taken the decision he took.
The members were suspended by the party for allegedly associating with erstwhile governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. They were also alleged to have attended a rally held last Sunday in Okuku, Osun State, the country home of the former governor.
The 12 suspended members, who are now poised for war against Olaoluwa on the issue, in a statement made available to journalists in Osogbo, described his action as 'reckless, arbitrary use of power, a huge joke and unconstitutional.'
They said he was not qualified to unilaterally suspend them as Article 21 subsection 4 of the constitution of our party, stipulates that it is the working committee at all levels that can suspend a member or members and not the chairman as ignorantly done by Olaoluwa.
"To worsen the situation and to show how wicked and deceitful the chairman is, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, who is also a federal board member, but who is currently on vacation abroad, was equally allegedly suspended for attending the rally. Do you suspend a man that was absent at such a gathering?
"We are not surprised because his action was deliberately aimed at getting at some of us who recently got federal board's appointments, otherwise how could he suspend just 12 of us out of the over 10, 000 well wishers who graced the Okuku rally that has become the talk of the town?"
"We hereby state further that we do not have any other party than PDP and, as such, no amount of intimidation or blackmail by Olaoluwa can make us leave the party we nurtured from inception, when our socalled chairman was still a member of the Alliance for Democracy, AD.
"We, members of the PDP in Osun State and the immediate past Chairman of our party, Alhaji Ademola Rasaq, purportedly suspended from the party by Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, the state Chairman, hereby state categorically that his action is unconstitutional, arbitrary and above all, a huge joke," they said.
"As at the time he announced our alleged suspension, which is nothing but laughable, he was in Abuja. No meeting of the State Working Committee members, where such decisions could be taken was held.
"The denial by the State Working Committee members in some of the national dailies of Tuesday, September 10, 2013, lends credence to our position. Our question then is, from where did Olaoluwa get the powers to suspend members from? We have not stopped to laugh his action, let us see who blinks first because the drama has just begun.
"According to Olaoluwa, our offence was that we attended last Sunday's rally organised to welcome our leader and former governor to his country home in Okuku. When and where did the State Working Committee decided that members should not welcome the former governor back to his country home?
"The ploy is to deceive the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan that we are not loyal to him, whereas we all voted and worked vigorously for the emergence of Mr. President both at the party convention and in the general elections in 2011.
"We add that we do not have any other party than the PDP and as such no amount of intimidation or blackmail by Olaoluwa can make us leave the party we nurtured from inception, when our so-called chairman was still in the Alliance for Democracy, AD," they said.
National Mirror