The acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Lanre Omolase, on Saturday faulted the manner in which members of the party who defected to the Social Democratic Party earlier in the year were accepted back to the party last week.
He said although their return was a welcome development, the proper procedure and the constitution of the party ought to have been followed. “When members who had once left are returning, it is the responsibility of the party to accept them, not for individuals no matter how highly placed,” he added.
The returnees, under the aegis of Ekiti PDP Progressives, on Tuesday rejoined the party at an occasion which had a National Assembly member, Senator Biodun Olujimi, and other leaders of the party in attendance.
The coordinator of the returnees, Wale Ayeni, said they were treated like strangers during the PDP governorship primary, which he said forced them out of the party to join the SDP.
But in an interview with Sunday APROKOVIBE, Omolase said, “It is the responsibility of the party to accept them because it is the chairman that will order the documentation of the people coming in, not that somebody will just receive them. Their names must be entered into the party register which can only be done by the party chairman at the ward, local government or state level on the order of the state chapter.
“It is the responsibility of the state chairman to present them to the zonal and the zonal or the state will present them to the national, not the other way round. Politics is a game of numbers. It is good they have returned. Their coming is a blessing to the party especially with the general elections around the corner. We still call on the remaining to return, but the party should entrench and encourage discipline so that anti-party activities would not be condoned.”
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