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The leadership tussle rocking the South West Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have been finally laid to rest on Monday as former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, declared that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, is the leader of the party and by extension his own leader.
Speaking at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, venue of the Zonal Congress of the party, Fayose said: “The governor of Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde, my brother, my friend and by the grace of God, our leader.”
The ex-Ekiti State governor also apologised to members of the party not in his faction for all they have all gone through over the years.
“I and Seyi Makinde are one from the beginning,” Fayose said, praying that the tenure of Makinde as the party leader in the South West will usher the PDP into a season of great accomplishments.
“Nothing last forever, if I offend anybody, I apologise,” he added.
The leadership of the party in the South West had been embroiled in crisis with Fayose and Makinde at the centre of it.
Makinde, a first term governor, is the only PDP governor in the South West zone while the other five states in the region are governed by the governors of the All Progressives Congress.
The leadership tussle between Makinde and Fayose had since generated verbal confrontations among their supporters.
Meanwhile, the candidate presented by the faction of the party loyal to ex-Governor Ayo Fayose for the post of youth leader at the ongoing PDP zonal Congress has been disqualified for being over-aged.
Announcing the disqualification, the returning officer for the election and Benue State deputy governor, Dr. Benson Abounu, said Aremo Femi Adetola from Oyo State is 49 years old, according to the papers he presented to the screening committee.
Abounu said the PDP constitution stipulates that whoever will vie for the post of Youth Leader of the party must be between 18 and 40 years.
Reacting, Fayose and Adetola, accepted the disqualification.
Delegates at the Zonal Congress have commenced voting. The exercise started at 4:40pm with delegates from Ekiti State,led by former Governor Segun Oni.