The Chairman, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos State chapter, Honourable Philip Olabode Aivoji, has disassociated the party from the purported state congress held on Saturday.
Aivoji, who made these remarks during a press conference held at Ikeja, Lagos State on Saturday, noted that the 4 – year tenure of the present State Executive Council of the party in Lagos was still on and would expire in March 2026 and therefore described the exercise as a nuility.
He said conduct of the state congress in Lagos State on Saturday was against the position of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, which had earlier directed that the state be excluded from the list of states where the state congress was to hold and that the National Organising Secretary, Hon. Bature, was to communicate this to the party through a letter, which he never did till the conduct of the Ward and Local Government Area congresses.
Aivoji condemned the action of the Lagos State PDP Body of Elders for setting up a committee to screen those interested in contesting for State Exco offices as this usurped the statutory functions of the State Exco, which was saddled with this responsibility.
The PDP Lagos State helmsman stated that a group loyal to Chief Bode George clandestinely conducted the screening exercise for only their loyalists and excluded majority of the party members.
He noted that Mr. Moyegun, the Director of Organization and Mobilisation who was expected to write the Lagos INEC that the state congress won’t hold in Lagos State failed to do that and INEC kept asking the State Exco for the letter, which the party couldn’t provide.
Aivoji further stated that weeks after the conduct of the Ward and Local Government Area congresses, the State Exco was yet to get a duplicate copy of the results and this is against the party constitution that expressly states that a duplicate copy must be submitted to the State Exco or the total exercise becomes an illegality.
The State Chairman described the Saturday state congress as unconstitutional, illegal and a wasted effort that can’t stand the test of time as it contravened section 25 sub – section 1 of the party constitution on state congress, which unambiguously states that there shall be a state party congress to consist of (a) the State Chairman, who shall be the Chairman, as well as some other members, while the Saturday state congress never had him in attendance.
He, therefore, stated that jettisoning this aspect of the party constitution rendered the congress invalid, illegal and unconstitutional, adding that the attempt of a group loyal to Chief Bode George to organise the illegitimate congress would further polarise the party as it had disenfranchised a lot of party members.
Aivoji further stressed that prior to the state congress, no legitimate screening exercise was carried out on the aspirants by the party, but forms were all handed over to the Deputy National Secretary, Hon. Setonji Koshoedo, who gave out the forms to their cronnies without screening and not the State Exco.
He said a situation where the state would have a parallel State Exco when the tenure of the current Exco was yet to expire won’t augur well for the party as this would further cause division and unimaginable chaos, which the present State Exco members detest.
The PDP Chieftain noted that the State Exco of the party in Lagos State vehemently condemned the conduct of the Saturday illegal state congress when the tenure of the current Exco had not expired, stressing that none of the members of the current State Exco was part of the charade, where the party constitution was violated and due process was not followed.
