…Jandor lacks power to ‘Expel’ Bode George – PDP Chieftain
The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed its governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adeniran popularly known as Jandor, to immediately withdraw his claim of being the apex leader of the party.
The party in a statement signed by its state chairman, Philip Aivoji, asked Jandor to apologise to the leaders in the state for making such claims.
Jandor had on Sunday, March 10, during a ‘thank-you-ceremony for members of his campaign, said he remains the leader of the party in the state. He also said that some leaders of the party who declared their support for another party’s candidate during the election have ceased to be members of the party.
But Aivoji said such a claim was a mere falsehood, divisive and an affront to the constitution of PDP in the state, meant to mislead unsuspecting members of the public.
He said: “We would like to put it on record that the PDP is a political party governed by the rule of law and the party constitution remains supreme in the operation of the party where the Lagos State chapter derives its authority and there is nowhere in the constitution of the party where leadership is conferred on any candidate of the party.
“Therefore, the statement ascribed to Jandor is a falsehood, divisive and an attempt to mislead unsuspecting members of the party in the state and the public at large.
“The State Chairman of the party remains the leader of the party in Lagos State and section 22 of the party constitution is sacrosanct on the establishment and composition of the party-state caucus and there is nowhere the candidate of the party is mentioned as a member of such leadership position.
“This is important to put the record straight and to enlighten loyal members of the party on the leadership composition and operation of the party in Lagos state. Also, no section of the party constitution confers on any individual or group to expel any member of the party as this power resides only in the State Executive Council and the NWC.
“The Lagos state executive members found the statement as an affront and casting of aspersion on their personalities and the position they hold in the party and will therefore urge Dr Adediran to withdraw the statement and apologise for making such.
“While the Lagos State chapter of our party holds all our present and former members of the Board of Trustees (BOT), National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC) and national leadership of the party in high esteem, it won’t condone any attempt by any member to cast aspersion on their personalities.”
Likewise, a member of the dissolved Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Committee, Adai Edwin Adai, faulted Jandor for saying that a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, has ceased to be a member of the party.
Adai said Jandor lacked the power to expel Chief Bode George who he stated remains the national leader of the party.
He said, “The statement made by the gubernatorial candidate of our party in the last election in Lagos State is incorrect. There was no time Chief Bode George said he had left the party. I know that a lot of things happened in the course of our election in the 2023 general elections but to say that Chief Bode George has expelled himself from the party is incorrect.
“A lot of people were involved in the anti-party. Even Jandor, if I should dig into all the things that he did in Lagos State during that election, would that also amount to anti-party activity? Right now we’re talking about reconciliation within the party.
“So, at this point, we shouldn’t be talking about personal interest. The statement made by Jandor in my opinion is a joke taken too far.”
