Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and his Ondo counterpart, Olusegun Mimiko, have initiated peace talks with leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West to resolve the crisis rocking the party in Lagos, Osun and Oyo states.
The peace parley which was held on Friday night in Lagos, also had in attendance, the senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu.
Fayose who briefed journalists after the meeting, said truce was brokered so that delegates from the zone would remain united at the party's National Convention slated for next month in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The governor added that a meeting was earlier held with leaders of the party from Ogun State in Abuja.
He said, "We have urged the factions to come together to have one list of delegates ahead of the convention. The list must not come from any particular group. All leaders must sit together to come up with a list so that they can have their names in the convention brochure. We are happy that we are making progress."
Asked whether the South-West was going to produce the next national chairman of the party or not Fayose said that all the three zones in the region were eligible to contest for the position.
He said, "When something is zoned to the South or North, it does not represent the interest of a particular zone. One thing is that if I have someone from the South-West, he has my support because I am from the South-West.
"Now that it has been zoned to the South, you cannot stop others from participating, that is the truth. The moment it is not localised to the South-West, others have every right to take a shot at it too."
A former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe (Lagos), and Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo), in separate interviews after the meeting described the parley as successful.
They expressed confidence that the leaders of the party in the respective states will work together to produce a good delegates' list for the National Convention.
However, a former National Secretary of the PDP, Professor Wale Oladipo, who was also at the meeting, insisted that he was still the authentic national secretary of the party while Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, remained the national chairman.
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