The controversy surrounding the election of Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kwara state resonated on Tuesday with members of the state executives of the party reaffirming its stand to queue behind the candidacy of the lawmaker.

The party querried its state Chairman, Chief Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, for conniving with some Abuja-based members of the party to destroy it in a desperate bid to manipulate the outcome of the primaries in favour of anointed candidates who failed at the congresses.

The state PDP executive also took a swipe at Minister of National Planning, Dr Abubakar Olanrewaju Suleiman and Hajia Bola Shagaya for holding the party to ransom in their alleged plot to alter the results of the gubernatorial primary.

The Deputy Chairman of the party, Alhaji Attahiru Manko, who addressed a press conference alongside other members of the state executive committee at the party Secretariat in Ilorin, argued that the statement credited to the party Chairman that the results of the primaries could not be declared without recourse to the National Secretariat of the party portrayed him and his sponsors as bad losers.

He said the action of the embattled chairman was capable of denting the image of the party further.

Manko urged the National leadership of the party not to tamper with the result of the primaries, warning that any attempt to tinker with the outcome of the primaries may end in implosion that would not augur well for the party.

He said, "We have noted with dismay, the seeming controversy surrounding the emergence of a few of the candidates, particularly those of the gubernatorial, as duly won by Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola and the Kwara Central Senatorial District, won by Mallam Yinka Aluko, is not only needless but also clearly uncalled for.

"It is worrisome that accusing fingers have been pointed at no less a person than the Chairman of the party in the state, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo. From all accounts, it is obvious that it is the Chairman, in connivance with a few self-styled Abuja-based members of the PDP in Kwara State, are the ones behaving in a way that could destroy the party all in a desperate bid to manipulate the outcome of the primaries in favour of the so called anointed candidates who failed at the primaries.

"It is regrettable that the Chairman of our party, who swore to an oath of fidelity to the party ideals, would be discrediting the same party, its aspirants and even the delegates that freely elected them. His claim that "until the National leadership of the party affirms and announces the candidature (of Ajibola), the state could not claim to have one (a governorship candidate) yet" flies in the face of logic.

"It has clearly exposed the Chairman as one with dangerous motives that are capable of further denting the image of the party. We are therefore constrained to ask, is the Chairman expecting the National secretariat of the PDP to alter the result of a primary that all party stakeholders, including co-aspirants and elders of the party have adjudged to be free and fair?" he queried.