Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has criticised the protest held by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the United States Embassy in Abuja, describing it as a “shameful last kick of a dead National Working Committee of tax collectors.”
Fayose said the suspended National Chairman, Umar Iliya Damagum, and his allies should have gone to Washington, D.C., to protest at the White House if they truly wished to involve the United States in their grievances, rather than, in his words, “embarrassing themselves at the embassy gate in Abuja.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, the outspoken former governor questioned why the US or any European nation should be expected to intervene in resolving internal disputes within a Nigerian political party.
He accused Damagum and his team of being responsible for the PDP’s current leadership crisis by allegedly disregarding the party’s constitution and engaging in what he called “political undertakings that have buried the integrity of the NWC.”
Fayose referenced a court ruling delivered last Friday, which directed the PDP to conclude all pending state congresses before convening its next national convention.
He said that rather than obeying the ruling and uniting members, the suspended leadership opted to suspend key officers, including the National Secretary, the only official constitutionally empowered to issue meeting notices.
“Before then, they went to court to throw punches over legal representation of the party,” Fayose said. “Yet, the PDP constitution clearly states that only the National Legal Adviser has the authority to represent or appoint lawyers to represent the party in court cases. So, how is the consequence of their impunity the business of the US or anyone?”
The former governor, known for his blunt political commentary, urged the PDP’s current leadership to return to the negotiating table and engage party stakeholders in genuine reconciliation efforts rather than seeking external validation for self-inflicted problems.
