PDP: I’m not aware of BoT’s decision to prune chairmanship aspirants for convention – Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, Ayo Fayose, on Sunday said he was not aware of the decision of the party’s South West Board of Trustees to prune the number of aspirants for the chairmanship position from the zone.
Fayose said this in an interview with The Eagle Online.
Fayose, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said he was not consulted before the decision was reached.
He was, however, quick to add that he is not a member of the BoT.
Fayose, the only PDP governor in the South West, had last month initiated steps for the candidates to reach a consensus ahead of the election scheduled for December 9, 2017 in Abuja.
He met with some of the aspirants in Lagos on the issue.
After that, he had also met individually with some others.
Olayinka told The Eagle Online on behalf of his boss: “The governor is not aware of the decision.
“He was not consulted by anyone.
“But it is also germane to add that he is not a member of the BoT.”
One of the BoT members, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, had in a statement on Saturday said the group had pruned the number of aspirants to three.
Those endorsed were a former Minister of Sports and Special Duties and former Provost of the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja; a former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Chief Bode George; and a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran.
Shut out from the race are a former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja; a former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel; a former National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo; the party governorship candidate in the 2015 elections in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje; and Akin-Deko Akintayo, who is from Ondo State.
The BoT said it picked George to represent the Ogun-Lagos axis, while Adedoja is to stand for the election for Osun-Oyo and Adeniran to represent Ekiti-Ondo.
The caucus said its action was based on the numerous calls and wise counsel from several quarters to prune the contestants to a manageable size.