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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The executives of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Otun Balogun Ward 2, Gbongan, Osun State, have expelled a governorship aspirant, Prince Dotun Babayemi, from the party.
Babayemi is currently challenging Senator Ademola Adeleke’s candidacy as the PDP flag bearer in the July 16 governorship election before the Supreme Court.
Both an Osogbo Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, Akure, upheld the PDP primary that produced Adeleke as the authentic one organised and supervised by the national leadership of the party.
Justifying his expulsion, the ward executives accused Babayemi and his supporters of holding secret meetings with the All Progressives Congress(APC) with the aim of forging an alliance to work against PDP in the July 16 governorship election.
The Ward Secretary, Bukayo Ogunleye, who spoke on behalf of the executives at press briefing in Osogbo on Friday, said they received a petition against Babayemi at a meeting held on July 12, adding that a seven-man disciplinary committee was instituted to investigate the allegations and report back to the executives.
He alleged that despite delivering the invitation from the disciplinary committee to Babayemi’s residence, the chieftain refused to appear before the committee within the seven-day ultimatum given to defend himself.
“Rather than serving as an influencer and a rallying point to all members of the party at ward meetings, Prince Dotun Babayemi had not been attending the ward meetings since October 2021 till date.
“His absence at ward meetings over a long period of time spanning October 2021 till date was perceived as a wrong signal to the members of the party of his indisposition to the unity of the party.
“That Prince Dotun Babayemi’s serial legal litigations against the party were a deliberate ploy to rock the boat and destabilise the party; an anti-party activity which had caused disaffection among party members and deterred PDP sympathisers from identifying with the party in Gbongan
“The committee viewed Prince Babayemi’s continuous filing of several court cases against the party as an affront and his refusal to withdraw the same despite the intervention of the party’s leadership both at the state and national level as complete disobedience to the party’s lawful directives.
“The Ward Executive Committee of the party at its meeting of 20th July, 2022 received the report of the disciplinary committee, and after careful and extensive deliberations ratified the report of the disciplinary committee.
“The Ward Executive Committee of the party in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 57(2) and 59 (1) (g) of the constitution of PDP hereby remove and expel Prince Dotun Babayemi from the Peoples Democratic Party. He, therefore, ceases to be a member of the PDP henceforth,” Ogunleye said.
Reacting to the development, spokesperson for of Prince Dotun Babayemi Campaign Organisation, Kayode Oladeji, in a statement said: “Those who carried out the shenanigans they called expulsion of Omooba Dotun Babayemi from the PDP are ignorant of the rules that govern the party; they and their sponsors are only being clever by half in their bid to browbeat Babayemi, a man of the people. They are jesters who enjoy amusing themselves.”