Oyo State former deputy governor and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, Chief Taofeek Oladejo Arapaja, while speaking with news men on the states of happenings in the the South-West chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and his nomination as the zonal chairman has made it cleared that he is very qualified to lead the party in the region.
The former governor hinted that his loyalty to the party is hundred percent and that as a member of the PDP he has been contributing his own quota to the party. Answering questions regarding the power tussle between one Ekiti state former governor and the current Oyo state governor, Arapaja hinted that the traditionally, the current governor who is also the face of the party in the southwest region is automatically the leader of the party stating that the leadership fight of Mr. Ayodele Fayose is needless and just a chase after the find.
In his words; “I was just doing my own for the party; because whenever I am in a party, I am in a party hundred percent and the face of the party is the governor of Oyo state. That is the tradition of any political party. So, I will not go out and malign my governor and my leader. As far as Oyo State is concerned, the number one man is Engineer Seyi Makinde and that is how God wants it. So, anybody that is going against him is just like fighting God.”
“Based on that, I can be called upon to contribute my own quota, to contribute my service, to the development of my party. I will be ready and I am ready to take up any responsibility as bestowed on my personality by the governor of Oyo state who’s the leader of the party in this state and in South-West. That is the tradition anywhere. So, I am happy that the leader of the party finds me worthy of serving the party. I am available and I will do my utmost best to reposition the party in the South-West and you know that will affect the whole country because there used to be a time when we have like five to six governors in the South-West. Today, we have one. There was a time that the country was in the hand of PDP; it is no more the case. We want to go back to that. If we compare the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governor and the PDP governor, you will see that it’s all lies and deceit in the former.”