The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has called on the former governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose, to leave rather than continue publicly ridiculing the party.

Fayose, while appearing on a Channels Television programme on Friday, said the PDP in Ekiti State and the country is dead, has lost its soul, and would never win any election in the future.

But the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the party in the state, Dare Adeleke, in a statement made to Sunday Tribune, condemned the comments of the former governor, adding that Fayose has repeatedly betrayed the party under which he became governor twice.

Adeleke maintained that the former governor’s actions in the last few years—especially his consistent endorsement of the APC government in the state—were acts of betrayal that would no longer be condoned.

He alleged that the former governor’s reason for betraying the party was due to his failed attempts to take over the structure of the PDP in Ekiti, which were resisted by members and leaders of the party.

Adeleke argued that the former governor has lost his political relevance in the scheme of things in the state, which he said has made it difficult for people—especially party officials and leaders—to join him in undermining the PDP in Ekiti.

According to him, “Why has Fayose refused to leave the same party he repeatedly described as a ‘carcass’ and ‘dead entity’?

“Eventually, he admitted he was a bitter, disgruntled man, one who betrayed his own party simply because he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Like a soldier who repeatedly sells secrets to the enemy and then complains about not getting promoted, Fayose wants rewards from the same party he undermines.

“He admitted on air that he supported Tinubu simply because he’s his friend and kinsman, as if Nigeria now runs on tribal sentiment and is ruled by clannish association—not merit.

“The fact is that Fayose lobbied for control of two local government executives and was rightly denied. If Fayose was truly as politically influential as he claims, he would have moved the PDP’s structure in Ekiti to APC or ADC. But not one ward or LGA chairman has followed him.”

He expressed optimism that the PDP would capture the state from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s poll, saying, “I assure Fayose, the father and grandfather of betrayal, that the PDP, which he now refers to as ‘they’, remains strong. We will mobilise true party loyalists, not his APC- and ADC-bound jokers who will remain irrelevant backbenchers.

“Let it be known, the PDP will win Ekiti State, and I am emphatic about this.”

But, when contacted by Tribune Online, Fayose dismissed the statement of the caretaker chairman, describing him as inconsequential in the PDP.

Fayose said, ” I can’t respond to him. Who is Dare Adeleke? In what capacity is he talking? He is too little to talk about me.

“I don’t reply to rats and cockroaches in my house. In what capacity, as who is he talking? (Saturday Tribune)