The Elders’ Forum of the PDP in Ondo State said, yesterday, in Akure, that substituting the governorship candidate of the party, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, was an injustice that can spark off political crisis in the state, Vanguard reports.
The forum appealed to the Federal Government not to allow the repeat of the 1983 crisis in the state. Addressing newsmen, in Akure after a meeting, former Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Prof. Olu Agbi said the removal of Jegede’s name as the candidate of the party was “an injustice which was not good for the country’s democracy.
He said: “We have been monitoring the event for the past few days, it is a rape of democracy. It is the prerogative of a party to choose its governorship candidate but what we are having now is an unusual precedence in this country.
“It is a deliberate act to destroy the peace and progress of Ondo State and we don’t want that peace to be truncated. We don’t want the political crisis in 1983 to repeat itself, when many properties were destroyed and many lives were lost. Many of those that were affected are still suffering till today. That is why we are calling on the Federal Government to correct the injustice, to save Ondo State from imminent crisis. Where there is injustice there can never be peace and stability.”
Speaking further, the former envoy said: “We want to sound a note of warning to the Federal Government led by the APC not to allow history to repeat itself. There is no way we can run away from our experience in 1983. People are not happy, people who suffered in 1983 are still suffering today; many houses that were burnt have not been built. Those who were killed cannot come back.
“I think the society must take cognizance of this. A society where there is no justice, no rule of law, and no order can never be peaceful. And there can never be stability and the first law of survival as a country is justice and equity.’’
In another development, PDP members in Owo area of the state have vowed not to support Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the party. Addressing newsmen, on behalf of the Party members from the town, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Femi Adekambi expressed optimism that the appellate court would do justice to the matter, adding: “We are sure that Eyitayo Jegede would win at the court of appeal and would later become the governor of this state by the grace of God. We don’t have any plan B, Jimoh Ibrahim can never be our candidate.”
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