By MUFTAU OGUNYEMI
Akure- The Ondo State chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Thursday raised the alarm over the alleged impersonation of its Chairman, Prince Dele Ogunbameru, by one Stephen Adewale.
The party described Adewale as an “impostor”, with the “sole aim at causing confusion and distabilising the party in the state.”
The party raised the alarm in a letter to the National Chairman, Alhaji Musa Gabam, which was jointly signed by Prince Dele Ogunbameru and Mr Femi Akinmurele, State Chairman and Secretary, respectively.
A copy of the letter made available to newsmen in Akure read: “We wish to draw the attention of the national chairman to the existence of one Stephen Adewale, who is an impostor, parading himself as the party chairman in Ondo state.
“It was claimed that he emerged as the state chairman at a purported congress held in Ondo State on the April 9, 2022 and this unfortunately has caused huge crisis and confusion withing the state.”
The party, while claiming that the State Executive Committee(SEC) was yet to conduct the State Congress, explained that it was the duty of the SEC to execute the conduct of such congress.
“It is the duty of the SEC to decide on the date, time and venue of a State Congress subject to Section 14.1 of the constitution of SDP.
“There shall be a State Executive Committee of the party, and shall be the principal Executing organ of the State Congress. If there was a Congress, it couldn’t have been without it being executed by the SEC.
“It is therefore clear that the purported congress the said Stephen Adewale is laying claim to is aimed at causing confusion in the state to distabilise the party.
“Information reaching us shows that a former National Chairman is the brain behind the activities of this impostor.
“So, Adewale is not known at any level of the party in the state and is not known by any member of the SEC even up till now, nobody knows whether he is tall or short, fair or dark in completion.
“The other information we heard of him is that he is a staff of one of our presidential aspirants.
“So, we call on your prestigious office to pragmatically intervene in the matter and stop the impostor from impersonating the state chairman,” it said.
The party also said that it had ratified the suspension of its former National Chairman, Dr Olu Agunloye, by his ward in Akoko North-West Local Government area of the state for alleged anti-party activities.
“We also wish to remind you that since Dr Agunloye has been duly suspended, he cannot occupy any position in the party as long as his suspension subsist for the interest of the growth of the party.
“Agunloye claimed that he swapped his position with yours because a presidential candidate is coming from the South is not known to the party’s constitution, besides we did not agree on zoning in the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting where we invited four aspirants of which one is from the North.
“If the presidential candidate is coming from the South, all the current position in the National Working Committee (NWC) from the South will move to the North and vice versa.
“It is positions that will move, to be filled by interested members at the convention, and not an embattled National Chairman swapping with the National Secretary in the most unconstitutional manner,” the party said.
The party, therefore, said that the chapter would hold its state congress on Friday, May 13, 2022 in compliance with the party’s constitution and the decision of NEC.
“We do hope to enjoy your gracious support and cooperation in the conduct of the coming congresses in Ondo state,” it said. (NAN)
