Governorship: I will not step down — Isiaka

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria in Ogun State, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, has vowed to resist pressure to withdraw from the governorship race. Isiaka, who was in the Peoples Democratic Party’s faction of the state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, dumped the PDP after losing the ticket to Chief Adetunji Olurin. Both Isiaka and Olurin are from Ogun West Senatorial Zone. Various groups from the zone on Monday met at Ilaro, and resolved by setting up a five man committee to meet the PPN’s candidate to withdraw from the race so as not to jeorpadise the chances of the zone that had never produced the governor in 35 years. The groups, which were led by the Yewa Think Tank, had resolved that the committee should meet Isiaka within the next 48 hours and prevail on him to withdraw from the race and back Olurin’s candidacy in the interest of Ogun West. The President of the Yewa Think Tank, Dr. Ayinde Ibikunle, while speaking on the communiqué reached by the various groups said, “We consider it necessary that all the recognized Pan Yewa-Awori organisation should meet and discuss the issue. “Our people are convinced that a man from Ogun West should succeed Daniel in May 2011 and out of the nine groups that met today, seven have agreed to back Olurin, one of the groups said it had not made up its mind and one was in support of Isiaka.” But Isiaka in an interview with our correspondent vowed not to step down for Olurin. Speaking through his Media Assistant, Mr. Bolaji Adeniji, he said, “I will never withdraw from the race. I cannot relinquish my mandate for anybody. “Why should I withdraw when my people overwhelmingly gave me their mandate, I was given the mandate in PDP and I was cheated and my people again said I should move to PPN, where they still gave me the same mandate. The groups should rather go to Olurin and prevail on him to step down in the interest of the Yewa/Awori people and not me.” Meanwhile, Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel in Abeokuta, the state capital on Monday appealed to his supporters who defected to the Peoples Party of Nigeria to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan and the PPN governorship candidate, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka in the forthcoming poll. The governor, while speaking at the PPN’s campaign rally at the MKO Stadium Abeokuta, insisted that he remained in the PDP to work for President Jonathan’s re-election. The members of the PDP who contested and won the primaries under the faction led by Daniel, dumped the party for the PPN, following the loss of their mandate. Daniel at the rally introduced all the PPN’s candidates vying for various offices under the party’s platform. By Francis Falola, Abeokuta