Kashamu, Nwodo tackle Ekiti governor’s presidential bid

Describing Fayose as a joker and a major destroyer of the PDP, Kashamu called the Ekiti State governor as an ‘alawada’ (Yoruba word for comedian) like Baba Sala.

“Baba Sala is the stage name of veteran Yoruba comic actor, Moses Olaiya.

“He looks like Baba Sala, alawada kerikeri. He is not reliable,” Kashamu said.

The PDP financier said this while speaking to The PUNCH on the telephone on Thursday in reaction to the official declaration of Fayose’s presidential campaign in Abuja.

The lawmaker decried that Fayose, being the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, who could be likened to the ‘president’ of the party, had failed to obey the zoning agreement in the PDP.

Kashamu recalled that Fayose had once proposed to seek another term as

Governor of Ekiti State, but later announced his vice-presidential ambition.

The senator said, “He is a ‘confusionist’ and number one destroyer of the party. How on earth would somebody, who agreed with other party chieftains, that the presidential ticket of the party for 2019 should be zoned to the North, would now turn around to start campaigning for the same ticket as a southerner, and particularly as a south-westerner to the detriment of the national chairmanship ticket of the party already zoned to the area.

“Lovers of our great party and politically-minded Nigerians generally should, by this action of Fayose, see him as the number one destroyer of the party and the most cantankerous politician in the polity who can, at anytime, abuse anybody and go against agreed plans at anytime.”

Also, a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, said Fayose could not contest in the party’s primary poll for the 2019 presidential election.

Nwodo told the News Agency of Nigeria that PDP’s ideology forbade Fayose and other members from the South from contesting the presidential race in 2019.

He added, “Fayose cannot run and I will tell you my reason. When we formed the PDP, the first battle we fought and won as a party was to zone the presidency to the South.

“Those of us from the South made a case because in the First Republic, the prime minister was from the North; in the Second Republic, the President was from the North, and in the Third Republic, a southerner won and the election was annulled.

“There was no way we could go back to the South and say let’s elect a northerner again without giving the south a slot.

“A decision was taken that the President should come from the South and the chairman of the party to come from the North.

“That was how Solomon Lar became the chairman of the PDP and secretary was zoned to the south; that was how I became the first secretary of the party.”

Nwodo, a former National Chairman of the PDP, said the party would take a decision to ensure that its constitution and ordinances were respected.

He explained that those who tried it in the past failed to achieve their aim.