The PDP southwest zone is set for a showdown as two factions of the party in the zone have scheduled zonal meetings for the same day but in different locations.

Following the discontent generated by the zoning of the Peoples Democratic Party national offices, 120 party leaders from the Southwest zone are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Akure, Ondo state, to discuss the issue.

The meeting, which will be attended by 20 representatives from each of the six states in the zone, was convened to discuss the fact that the zone had failed to field a candidate for the office of the national chairman of the PDP and also to warn the the party over the injustice being done to the region.

The national chairmanship of the former ruling party was zoned to the northeast allegedly on the behest of a faction loyal to Senator Buruji Kashamu and Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.

However, leaders of the PDP in the zone have denied the assertion by Kashamu that the region is not interested in the chairmanship of the party

Speaking on the issue, a PDP Board of Trustees of the party and a former Minister of Transportation, Ebenezer Babatope, confirmed that the meeting will hold, saying that they would decide on what next to do.

He stated that the contrary to wide spread insinuations, the region did not refuse the office of the National Chairman of the PDP, noting that the people who made the decision did it on their own.

“We didn’t say we don’t want the office. It is the turn of the people of the zone to present a candidate for the party. We have been relegated to the background and I can tell you that the injustice won’t stand.”

“After the Akure meeting, we would come out with a strong word and communique to sound a note of warning to those who think they can take the people of the zone for granted in the party.”

In a bid to frustrate the meeting scheduled in Akure, the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has directed Kashamu to hold a parallel meeting in his home in Ijebu Igbo.

Speaking on the meeting, Kashamu, through his spokesperson, Austin Oniyokor, on Tuesday, said: “We have invited all members of the BoT from the zone. A member of the BoT, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, will chair the meeting.”

“We have invited all PDP past and serving governors from the zone, past and serving members of the state Assembly, governorship candidates and their deputies in the 2015 election, 50 leaders from each of the states apart from those already listed.”

“The agenda is to deliberate on the offices zoned to the South-West and how to share the offices among the states.”