A former federal lawmaker, Hon Bamidele Faparusi has told the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to blame its leadership over the party's misfortunes.
He maintained that the All Progressives Congress (APC) should not be held responsible for the recognition of Mr Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
Faparusi, a chieftain of the APC and a member of the seventh House of Representatives, said the polarization of the party into Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi factions was having a toll on the party and that it would be unjustifiable and preposterous to blame the ruling party for the PDP's predicament.
The APC chieftain described what he called "the vituperation of the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose against the APC and INEC, as a misdirected venom, which ordinarily could not have arisen in the first instance."
INEC had on Thursday published the lists of candidates to participate in the governorship poll and replaced the name of Mr Eyitayo Jegede, the preferred candidate of the party with that of Mr Ibrahim.
Faparusi, while speaking with journalists in Ado Ekiti on Saturday contended that failure of the party's top brass to resolve the crisis bedeviling it at the national level was responsible for the replacement and that the APC had no reason to teleguide the INEC over issue that was predominantly constitutional.
"This is a constitutional issue. A judgement of the federal High Court delivered by Justice Okon Abang in Abuja recognized Ali Modu Sheriff faction which presented Mr Ibrahim and INEC acted in line with that verdict, which has not been reversed.
"APC didn't instruct INEC to disqualify Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu in Edo State despite the fact that he was a strong contender. APC didn't instruct INEC to disqualify Governor Seriake Dickson when the election in Bayelsa was to be held. Why should our party now resort to such subterfuge?
"When the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested some Federal and Supreme Courts Judges for corruption related cases, it was the same PDP that cried hoax that the APC was planning to kill the judiciary.
But when it is now their turn, they started blaming judiciary.
"Every discernible Nigerian knew that desperation of some governors to hijack the party ahead of 2019 caused this division in PDP and accusing APC of committing constitutional infractions in Ondo issue was tantamount to outright exhibition of ignorance and political naivety on the part of the party", he said.
Faparusi appealed to the candidate of the party, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu to mend fences with other gladiators over the crisis that emanated from the conduct of the APC primaries, saying the time to bring Ondo into the progressives fold was long overdue.
