A former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Wednesday, rejected the appointment of the Presidential Campaign Council of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the State.
Mimiko said he remained solidly behind the agitation of the Rivers State governor, Nyesome Wike, on the removal of the national chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.
The immediate-past governor of Ondo State is a prominent member of the group of aggrieved leaders of the party who are sympathetic to the cause of Governor Nyesom Wike.
In a statement made available in Akure, the state capital by his Special Assistant on Media and Digital Communications, John Paul Akinduro, Mimiko said he was neither consulted by anyone nor consented to his inclusion in any of the State’s PDP Presidential Campaign Council list.
According to him, “Dr Olusegun Mimiko has been inundated with calls and messages from the general public, and his political friends and concerned individuals around the nation; and in particular, his teeming supporters across the length and breadth of Ondo State, seeking clarity on a fake news making the rounds since yesterday that he had ditched Governors Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde and their colleagues governors, and abandoned the agitation for regional equity within the PDP; and in particular, making a party member of southern extraction its the national chairman before the 2023 election.
“The report and the list that triggered it, are fake and a deliberate attempt to muddle things up and smear Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
“It must be stated with emphasis that Dr. Mimiko was neither consulted by anyone nor consented to his inclusion in any Ondo state PDP Presidential Campaign Council list.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to set the record straight, Dr Mimiko is unwavering in his commitment to the principle of equity, fairness and justice through which he believes a credible push for a PDP victory is possible.
“He fully subscribes to the agitation by his colleagues and other stakeholders in PDP and the generality of Nigerians that the PDP structure must reflect Nigeria’s diversity, if it genuinely wants to unify a visibly divided country.”