The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has attacked the former governor of the state, AyodeleFayose, over his recent endorsement of the incumbent governor, Biodun Oyebanji, for a second term in the 2026 governorship poll.

The opposition party was reacting to last weekend’s endorsement of Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos by Fayose during the celebration of his wife’s 60th birthday.

In a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, at the premises of a leader of the party, Makanjuola Ogundipe, on Tuesday, the PDP stakeholders said the endorsement of the governor was the personal decision of Fayose and does not represent the party.

The stakeholders, consisting of leaders of the party drawn from the 16 local government areas of the state, called on the national leadership of the party to completely expel the former governor and his followers who participated in the alleged shameful endorsement.

In the communiqué that was read at the end of the meeting by the former State Publicity Secretary of the party, Jackson Adebayo, members were warned not to be carried away by the alleged antics of Fayose, saying that the PDP is not for rent.

The communique reads, “That members should not be carried away by the antics of the former governor, Ayodele Fayose, that solely rely on the use of money to woo his victims.

“That we condemned in totality the purported endorsement of Biodun Oyebanji by Fayose and his group in Lagos while calling on the national leadership of the party to completely expel the former governor and his followers that participated in the shameful endorsement,” it said.

The party stakeholders also resolved that all the branches of the party at the local government level should commence the process of suspending any members of the party that followed Fayose in his alleged anti-party activities.

The Zonal Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Sanya Atofarati, who spoke at the parley, said that though the former governor has a right to support anyone for a second term, such endorsement does not represent the position of the PDP at the state and national level.

According to him, “We are not members of the APC, and we are not supporting Governor Oyebanji for a second term. We don’t see any significant things he has done to warrant the endorsement. We in the southwest and the national leadership dissociate ourselves from his purported endorsement by Fayose.”

The meeting called for the unity of all members and groups within the party so that the party could reclaim its lost glory, saying that ward meetings should be held across the local government areas. (Nigerian Tribune)