The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday announced the expulsion of Prince Dotun Babayemi from its fold over alleged anti-party activities.

The party accused Babayemi, who was an aspirant on its platform in the July 16, 2022, governorship election in the state, of attempts to truncate the victory of the governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, by instituting several suits to challenge the validity of Adeleke’s nomination as the party’s governorship candidate.

Recall that the party held parallel governorship primaries and a faction declared Babayemi the winner of the primary election held at the Children and Women Development Center in Osogbo.

The primary that produced Adeleke as a candidate was held at Osogbo City Stadium.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised Adeleke as the authentic governorship candidate of the party.

The development forced Babayemi to file a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Osogbo, where he sought to be recognised as the PDP’s governorship candidate.

But in a ruling by Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, the court upheld Adeleke as the duly elected flag bearer.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Babayemi filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Akure. The appellate court in its judgment last July dismissed his appeal and recognised Adeleke as the party’s candidate for the election.

Still dissatisfied, Babayemi has taken the matter to the Supreme Court.

Irked by his decision to pursue the case up to the Supreme Court, the executives of the Otun Balogun Ward 02, Gbongan in Ayedaade local council of the state expelled him yesterday.

Babayemi’s expulsion was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Ward Chairman, Chief Awodeji Juliu, which was made available to journalists.

Juliu said despite the interventions of the National Working Committee of the party, stakeholders and elder statesmen to persuade Babayemi to withdraw all court cases filed against the party, “he has refused to yield to words of reasoning and is hell-bent on pursuing legal actions against the party with the sole aim of truncating the wishes of the good people of Osun State in the mandate given to Senator Ademola Adeleke.”

He added that Babayemi was sacked from the party for attempting to pull the party down through court litigations, alleging that he was colluding with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rob Adeleke of his electoral victory.

When contacted for reaction, the media office of Babayemi, in a statement, described the ward executives as jesters, saying they lacked knowledge of party rules.

“Those who carried out the shenanigan they called the 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,” the terse statement said. (The Guardian)

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