Face-off between Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, may have deepened as some prominent leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State endorsed Dr. Eddy Olafeso as the chairmanship candidate of the party in the South-West.
The PDP leaders in support of Olafeso at a meeting held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Wednesday are Chief Nureni Akanbi, Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan, and Femi Babalola, among others.
Governor Makinde and former Governor Fayose have been embroiled in face off over the plan to return Olafeso, who is seeking to run as the party’s chairman for second time.
Olafeso had resigned from the position in order to contest the PDP governorship primary in Ondo State in 2020.
The PDP congress in the South-West is billed to elect leaders of the party in the zone anytime soon. While Fayose is backing Olafeso, Makinde appears to be against his choice for the plum party position.
The communique signed by all the leaders at the end of the meeting reads in part, “We came here to strategise ahead of the South-West forthcoming congress.
“It is very necessary for us to come together and sharpen our tools ahead of the congress. we deliberated on a lot of issues and we reached a positive conclusion in all that we discussed.
“It is no longer news that there’s no chairmanship candidate coming from Oyo State, there is an agreement made that we are going to return the Eddy Olafeso exco and every leader from all the state still standing on the agreement, so Oyo State cannot be left out and we don’t want anybody to use his or her selfish interest to cause dispute in our great party.
“We are still going to hold more meetings before the congress but the issue of chairmanship for the congress is settled, Oyo State is supporting the effort to return Eddy at the coming congress.”
Former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who heads the reconciliatory committee constituted by the Makinde led faction of the PDP in the zone had in December visited Fayose in a bid to reconcile him with the governor.
Oyinlola and other leaders at the meeting with Fayose endorsed Olafeso.