Issues of disqualification would be resolved before convention — Akinwomi PDP’s Acting Chairman

•  Says Olafeso, 2 others are not part of the enemies of the party

The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that controversy surrounding the disqualification of three prominent members of the party from the southwest would be resolved before the party’s convention on Saturday this week.

Starnews Nigeria reports Dr. Eddy Olafeso, Professor Adewale Oladipo, and Akintan Oludaisi were barred by the PDP screening panel led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke from participating in elections into party offices coming up on Saturday.

Akinwomi who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday evening said that the PDP won’t go into the congress without resolving all the internal crisis.

According to him: “The appeal screening committee supposed to sit today but for reasons best known to us, it is no longer sitting today. It has been postponed. We have our own internal mechanism and I don’t have to tell you now. But all contentious issues would be resolved.”

“In our party, there is a mechanism put in place to resolve an internal issue. But this is a public domain, I can never tell you the secret of my party. But what I want you to take home is that the issue of anybody disqualified, whatever crisis, and whatever it is, before the convention, we will resolve it and we will become a family,” he told the presenter on inquiry.

When asked when exactly it would be resolved, “Chief Akinwonmi said: I am not an Ireland in the party. It is not a question of one-man business. We leaders of the party will put heads together and pick a date that is convenient for us.”

Akinwonmi also said that the three persons disqualified by the party are genuine members of the PDP and that they are not part of the enemies of the party he was referring to in his statement earlier.

He had said earlier at the beginning of his opening speech that there are enemies within the party who are trying to destabilise the party and to cause crisis so that the center could not hold even before the convention.

When asked if those disqualified were also part of the enemies within the PDP he was referring to, he said: “No. Those disqualified are well known to us in the party. They are members of our party and they are genuine. They are not part of the enemies of our party I am referring to.”