The battle for the control of South-West Peoples
Democratic Party intensified on Tuesday when a group within the party
declared its support for former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The group, which held a meeting at the Owo residence of PDP stalwart, Chief Oyewole Fasawe, on Monday, denied working for a former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.
The denial was sequel to an insinuation by the acting Chairman, Osun PDP, Chief Sunday Ojo-Williams, which described the group as doing the bidding of Atiku.
Leaders of the party at the meeting which began at 9pm on Sunday evening and ended at about 4.30am on Monday, included a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun; Mrs Titi Ajanaku; a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; Chief Abiola Ogundokun, and Ambassador Tunde Adeniran.
A source told our correspondent that the meeting was held on June 12 in recognition of the popular mandate freely given to the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola.
Also, the source said Owo town in Ondo State was chosen as venue of the meeting because Owo was the town where the late Action Group leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, formed the party.
A communiqué on behalf of the group, which was signed by Oyedokun and Adeniran supported President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts at transforming the party.
The communiqué also stressed the need for the party to have internal democracy, adding that the party had been plunged into an abyss of political mismanagement in the South-West.
According to the communiqué, the south-west PDP is gasping for breathe because the fortunes of the party were been badly managed.
Ogundokun vehemently denied that the grouping was working for Atiku.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the drowning Osun PDP-led Ojo-Williams could, after mismanaging the party, come out and accuse us of working for Atiku.
”This is a cheap blackmail that can never stand because the people who attended the meeting are credible politicians, whose pedigrees and antecedents are not in doubt.
“Why was the party washed away during the last general elections in the South-West? It’s because of the visionless leadership foisted on the party.
“We resolved at the meeting that the former governors of the party are no longer leaders of the party since they are no more in power.
“In the first place, they wrongly made themselves leaders of the party without recourse to party supremacy. We resolved that Chief Obasanjo remains our adorable leader.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Presidential Campaign Council of the PDP, Mrs. Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, has denied media reports (not THE PUNCH) that the Owo meeting was aimed at waging war against Obasanjo.
She said rather, the meeting was aimed at repositioning the region in the scheme of things in the country.
Adebajo-Fraser, who was at the meeting, made the clarification in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Tuesday.
She added that contrary to the reports, it was also resolved at the meeting that a delegation be sent to the former President who is also the current chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees to express their supports for his various steps aimed at repositioning the party in the region.
She added that she attended the meeting on the invitation of a member of the PCC and as a leader of a coalition from Lagos State.
By Tunde Odesola and Olalekan Adetayo Courtesy Of: Punch
The group, which held a meeting at the Owo residence of PDP stalwart, Chief Oyewole Fasawe, on Monday, denied working for a former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.
The denial was sequel to an insinuation by the acting Chairman, Osun PDP, Chief Sunday Ojo-Williams, which described the group as doing the bidding of Atiku.
Leaders of the party at the meeting which began at 9pm on Sunday evening and ended at about 4.30am on Monday, included a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun; Mrs Titi Ajanaku; a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; Chief Abiola Ogundokun, and Ambassador Tunde Adeniran.
A source told our correspondent that the meeting was held on June 12 in recognition of the popular mandate freely given to the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola.
Also, the source said Owo town in Ondo State was chosen as venue of the meeting because Owo was the town where the late Action Group leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, formed the party.
A communiqué on behalf of the group, which was signed by Oyedokun and Adeniran supported President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts at transforming the party.
The communiqué also stressed the need for the party to have internal democracy, adding that the party had been plunged into an abyss of political mismanagement in the South-West.
According to the communiqué, the south-west PDP is gasping for breathe because the fortunes of the party were been badly managed.
Ogundokun vehemently denied that the grouping was working for Atiku.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the drowning Osun PDP-led Ojo-Williams could, after mismanaging the party, come out and accuse us of working for Atiku.
”This is a cheap blackmail that can never stand because the people who attended the meeting are credible politicians, whose pedigrees and antecedents are not in doubt.
“Why was the party washed away during the last general elections in the South-West? It’s because of the visionless leadership foisted on the party.
“We resolved at the meeting that the former governors of the party are no longer leaders of the party since they are no more in power.
“In the first place, they wrongly made themselves leaders of the party without recourse to party supremacy. We resolved that Chief Obasanjo remains our adorable leader.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Presidential Campaign Council of the PDP, Mrs. Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, has denied media reports (not THE PUNCH) that the Owo meeting was aimed at waging war against Obasanjo.
She said rather, the meeting was aimed at repositioning the region in the scheme of things in the country.
Adebajo-Fraser, who was at the meeting, made the clarification in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Tuesday.
She added that contrary to the reports, it was also resolved at the meeting that a delegation be sent to the former President who is also the current chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees to express their supports for his various steps aimed at repositioning the party in the region.
She added that she attended the meeting on the invitation of a member of the PCC and as a leader of a coalition from Lagos State.
By Tunde Odesola and Olalekan Adetayo Courtesy Of: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment