The Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Southwest zone, Makanjuola Ogundipe, has attacked the Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, and his Ondo counterpart, Olusegun Mimiko, for conducting elections for the zone.

Elected officials of the party in the zone had on Thursday approached a Lagos Federal High Court praying it to stop the zone from holding its zonal congress. A prayer the court had granted.

However, the two governors had disobeyed the court order and gone on to hold a congress in Akure.

According to a statement signed by the southwest vice-chairman, the zonal congress held by Fayose and Mimiko is illegal.

“The decision of the national leadership of our great party and INEC to obey the court order is commendable,” the statement reads. “However, they must go beyond mere rhetoric and stand firm.

“Going forward, they have a duty to issue reports invalidating the exercise even before the court nullifies the contraption called the zonal congress.

“They should show to all and sundry that the age of impunity and political cum executive recklessness is gone for good. And that no one, no matter how powerful, is bigger than the law.

“It is on this note that I wish to implore all our respectable governors, leaders, elders and other stakeholders, to stand up for the truth and caution governors Fayose and Mimiko. They should desist from plunging the party into avoidable crisis.

“For instance, the so-called officers and delegates who emerged from the illegal congress could contaminate the national convention and render its outcome null and void, if they are allowed to participate in the convention at the expense of the legitimate officers and delegates.

“All we are saying is that there is no justification for the election of new officers into executive positions in the zone when the tenure of the current officers has not expired.”

Mazi Emeka