Members of the Lagos State chapter of the Alliance for Democracy have met in Lagos over recent happenings within the party, especially as they affect the party ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
At the general meeting, which was presided over by the chapter Chairman, Hon. Kola Ajayi, in Lagos on Thursday, a decision was reached to suspend the National Publicity Secretary of party, Yinka Nola, for engaging in alleged anti-party activities.
The decision is coming against the resolve of members of the party to pass a vote of confidence on the National Chairman, Chief Joseph Avazi, whom they lauded for his efforts at further repositioning the party to its former winning ways.
Addressing members of the party at the state secretariat of the party located along the popular Ikorodu Road, Ajayi listed some of the sins of the suspended spokesman to include gross insubordination, abuse of office and the party’s constitution.
Ajayi, who accused Nola of abandoning the state chapter of the party since her election as the mouthpiece of the party, also alleged she convened an illegal assembly of “some disgruntled elements within the party with a view to causing mischief, which are injurious to the existing harmony and peace within the party”.
According to Ajayi in a statement he issued to the media after the two-hour meeting: “Nola has continued to represent all that is not good and noble. She has become a liability, rather than an asset to the party. Looking at her conduct in recent times, party members in the state have come to the conclusion that we have to do away with her within our midst for the collective good of the AD in Lagos State and the country in general.”
In articulating the grouse of members against the embattled spokesman, Ajayi specifically stated: “We have it on good authority that she has been acting in a manner that suggests that she is undermining the authority of the leadership of the party, particularly the National Chairman of the party, Chief Avazi.”
He went further to state: “How do you explain a situation, where she issues statement without the consent of the party leadership. We disassociate ourselves from such actions.”
The party was also of the opinion that enlarged meetings of the party from time immemorial have also been held outside the party’s national secretariat because of the smallness of the Secretariat.
Arguing further, Ajayi stated that Nola acted in error through the action and that the action has become a consistent pattern in her behaviour, adding that the suspended party official has also displayed her disdain for the state chapter of the party.
Ajayi said: “How do you explain a situation where a national officer of the party only attended meetings of the party in the state twice and her local government since the day she assumed duties in Abuja. As we speak, most new members of the party don’t know her neither has she bothered to familiarize herself with happenings within the Lagos State chapter of the AD.
“I have the mandate of our teeming membership to unequivocally pass a vote of confidence on the national chairman of the AD, Chief Joseph Avazi.”