Ebun Francis || The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told one of its governors to forget his presidential ambition.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Dayo Adeyeye, said Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti was wasting his time with his plan to seek the party’s ticket for the 2019 presidential election.
Adeyeye said on Wednesday that the party has already zoned the presidential ticket to the northern part of the country.
Fayose is expected to formally announce his intention for the ticket on Thursday according to a statement by his spokesperson.
Although the Ekiti governor is not eligible to be the presidential candidate, the PDP said he is eligible to contest for the office of the national chairman of the party which has been zoned to the south.
Others Southern politicians believed to be seeking to be the national chairman of the largest opposition party are a former Ondo governor, Olabode George, and a former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel. Both men, like Fayose, are from the Southwest of the country.
“The highest organ of the party, which is the national convention, zoned the presidential ticket of the PDP to the North. That has not changed. The same national convention zoned the position of the national chairman to the South. The convention has yet to change any of these two.
“That (national convention) is the supreme organ of the party. Those decisions are binding on all members of the party. Nobody can alter these decisions,” Adeyeye told newsmen.
The spokesperson said the governor is a member of the party and was at the convention where those decisions were taken.
“If someone in such an office is breaking the decisions of the party, what do you expect from the rank and file?” he said.
Adeyeye, who is also from Ekiti State, seeks to be the governor of the state in 2018 but does not enjoy the support of Fayose who has already backed his deputy for the PDP ticket.