Sacked People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Tunji Shelle, has declared his alleged removal null and void while branding the plotters as ‘jokers and jesters.’
According to him, his removal was in contradiction to the PDP constitution which states that, only the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) that can remove him from office.
Shelle also pointed out that the South-West and national leadership of the party has rejected his removal.
Newsverge reported that the embattled chairman noted that as a member of the National Executive Council of the party he could not be removed, impeached or sacked.
“They have committed a huge blunder because they will regret getting involved in the first place.
“I have worked for the party; I have done what no other person has done for the party before. The party has never won elections in the past but in my time, we won some seats. Now these nonentity have been sponsored to remove me. They must have been sponsored because they are a group of hungry people, they do not have pedigree,” he said.
Shelle, who denied allegations by the PDP that he rigged Jimi Agbaje in as the party’s governorship candidate, insisted the he remains the only credible candidate that he knows.
The Lagos State Chapter of the PDP also described the sack as ‘laughable, null and void.’
Publicity Secretary of the party in Lagos State, Taofik Gani, released a statement condemning the sack and calling it unconstitutional.
READ ALSO: South-East Might Lose SGF Position As Tinubu Backs Audu Ogbeh
Below is the full statement:
“The PDP reiterates that the State Chairman leading the present state exco has delivered the best unprecedented electoral result to the party members. It is therefore very irrational for any persons to provoke acrimony in the party by claiming that the State Chairman has not performed to warrant continuing in office.
“The party also faulted the modus operandi employed by the detractors which offends the provisions of the party’s constitution on the sack of a State chairman.
“The State Chairman is a member of NEC and can only be removed or suspended by the consent of the NEC. There is no NEC approval to the action. It thus stands, Null and Void. For the sake of clarity, Capt. Tunji Shelle remains the legitimate chairman of PDP in the state. All dealings with the party in the state should be through him.”
News of Shelle’s removal leaked to the media on Monday evening when the state’s Executive Committee announced that the chairman was relieved of his duties after being found guilty of about 13 allegations against him.
The decision of the committee to sack the state chairman is based on the belief that, the ex-party chairman manipulated the party’s primaries last year, a development that led to the defeat of the PDP at the polls.
It was also learnt that moments after his removal, the committee appointed Mr. Kamaldeen Olorunoje to hold the office on a acting capacity.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/437489-sacked-lagos-pdp-chairman-reacts-to-removal.html