Politics

24 Hours After Atiku’s Ekiti Rally, PDP Factions Trade Blames Over Division

Published

1 year ago

January 18, 2023

Editor

Barely twenty-four hours after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar held his presidential campaign rally in Ekiti State, factions in the local chapter of the party are trading blames on the success or otherwise of Tuesday’s rally.

The rally was boycotted by former Governor Ayo Fayose, seven out of nine National Assembly candidates, many House of Assembly candidates and other leaders who are aggrieved over the current situation in the party.

The division in the party came to the fore during a radio programme on Wednesday monitored by DAILY POST in which the PDP Publicity Secretary in the state, Mr. Raphael Adeyanju and one of the media handlers of Fayose, Mr. Omotoso Okeya appeared as guests.

While Adeyanju claimed that the Atiku’s campaign rally in Ekiti “was a huge success,” Okeya, countered that the rally “was nothing to write home about as the division in the party which was responsible for its loss in the last governorship election was yet to be addressed.”

Faulting Adeyanju’s claim that the presidential campaign rally was a success, Okeya revealed that Fayose, seven National Assembly candidates and many House of Assembly candidates boycotted the rally because they were held in contempt by the party’s leadership who believed that “they were not important in the party.”

Okeya also disclosed that many party faithful especially those in Fayose’s camp shunned the rally because they were shortchanged by the national leadership of the party in arriving at the choice of the Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC) members and the way and manner funds were disbursed for the exercise.

The ex-governor’s loyalist added that admittance of Social Democratic Party (SDP) members into the PDP and giving them roles in the local PCC has been creating bad blood within the local chapter, having not shown remorse for working against the party in the last governorship election which contributed to a woeful third position at the poll.

But Adeyanju countered by holding Fayose and his loyalists responsible for the dismal performance of the PDP at the 2022 governorship poll accusing the former governor of “selling out the party to the opposition.”

The Ekiti PDP spokesman said the party had no choice but to make overtures to members who defected to SDP to return to their former party to make it stronger ahead of the forthcoming general elections and avert another poor performance if it goes into the election in its present state.

Adeyanju said the SDP members were accepted back into the party on the strength of the fact that the party came second in the governorship election noting that the return would strengthen the PDP for a strong showing in the forthcoming polls.

Okeya fired back by saying it would be foolhardy for anyone to believe that the SDP members would be working for the PDP when their party (SDP) has presidential, National Assembly and State Assembly candidates like PDP insisting that their interest would be in the flag bearers of their party.

He said: “There was nothing to celebrate about the (Atiku’s) rally of yesterday (Tuesday). Apart from former Governor Fayose, out of nine National Assembly candidates, only two were there while seven of them were conspicuously absent so it was not only Fayose that was not there.

“Absolute majority of the candidates were not there and that’s one thing you need to understand. I found it extremely difficult why some people are deceiving themselves, why some people are celebrating the presidential rally. Is presidential rally the ultimate?

“We could still recollect what happened during the last governorship election, the PDP lost woefully when we should have sat down. We should have ruminated over the likely causes of that poor performance. Then we can now ask ourselves have we addressed some of the reasons led us to that poor performance? The answer is no.

“The lingering crisis in the PDP has not been resolved, the PDP had not identified the problems that made the party to come a distant third at the last governorship election. Comparing yesterday’s rally with the one held in 2019, you will see that it was nothing to write home about.”

Adeyanju said: “I agree that we have factions in the party, we have identified the crisis and we are trying to solve it. Do you know that our votes were divided into two in the last governorship election in the state?

“The people who felt aggrieved by the management of our party broke away to the SDP and we thought that if we had allowed them remain in that SDP, there was no way any of our candidates can win the forthcoming elections.

“Those who are in APC are still in APC and the majority of our party members are in SDP. Are you telling me that the remaining people in PDP can still win elections for your candidates at the grassroots level? The fact is that we need those people (in SDP) to come back home so that we can recover the votes that we lost the other time.

“That is what we have just done that those who went to SDP, we need to call them together so that we can have a common front. Are you telling me that with the present state of PDP without SDP members, can we win the election? We need to bring them back and if we have done that, what wrong have we done?”

Politics

Edo Guber: We’ll Fight If… – Obaseki Threatens

Published

8 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Editor

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has warned members of Legacy Group within the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to state away from the party else they’ll face his wrath.

Obaseki gave the warning weekend at the inauguration of the state campaign council of the PDP in preparation for the September 21 gubernatorial election in the state.

Obaseki, who described the Legacy Group as disorganised, sheep without shepherd, alleged that they have collected money from the party, adding that is why they are fighting to disorganised the PDP in the state.

The Governor who expressed confidence in the 363-member campaign council, noted that the structure of the campaign council was rooted in all the 192 wards across the state, adding that every organ of the party was captured.

Obaseki, who noted that the PDP has the best candidate and programmes for the people of Edo, said: “The time table is out, can you see any of them (Legacy Group)? Can they organise themselves? PDP leads, others follow.”

Obaseki further said: “PDP is one. Those who are fighting PDP have collected money from the other parties, and they want to sell out, join me so that we can flush them out of our party. Because we are not going to allow anybody to divide us, we are one party; one indivisible party in Edo State.

“The money they have collected is enough, let them go and enjoy it; let them go and spend it outside. We don’t have anything to fear. I will fight them if they try us; we will fight them if they try us. They know us, we never fight and lose, let them come and try. They have collected money, let them stay outside with their money, and not disturb us, because this election is ours and we are going to win by the grace of God.”

Obaseki, who declared that the opposition has no space in Edo, boasted that the PDP has put together hardworking campaign council members who, according to him, were going to deliver 80 per cent of the total votes to the party.

He further said: “By the grace of God, this campaign council will deliver nothing less than 80% of our votes.

“We can’t find them anywhere. They have no place here. They cannot destroy us at the centre and want to still come and destroy us here. We will not allow it. The hunger is too much out there, we are preventing the hunger from coming to Edo.

“Everybody sees what is happening in Nigeria today. You can see the suffering in the land. You can see the struggle in Edo, but we pulled Edo out of those problems. So, our campaign is going to be based on the hope we will give our citizens in Edo State.”

Earlier, the State Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, disclosed that the campaign council consisted of 363 members, excluding the women and youth wings.

Politics

Edo Poll: PDP Inaugurates Campaign Council, Obaseki Mocks Legacy Group, APC

Published

1 day ago

May 3, 2024

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

Ahead of the September 21 gubernatorial election in Edo State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Friday, inaugurated a 363-member campaign council, with Governor Goodwin Obaseki describing the other faction known as Legacy Group as disorganised, sheep without sephard.

The governor who alleged that the factional PDP members fighting in the party have collected money from opposition parties to distabilise the party in the state, warned such persons to stay away or face his wrath.

Obaseki said: “PDP is one. Those who are fighting PDP have collected money from the other parties, and they want to sell out, join me so that we can flush them out of our party. Because we are not going to allow anybody to divide us, we are one party; one indivisible party in Edo State.

He further said: “By the grace of God, this campaign council will deliver nothing less than 80% of our votes.

“Everybody sees what is happening in Nigeria today. You can see the suffering in the land. You can see the struggle in Edo, but we pulled Edo out of that problems. So, our campaign is going to be based on the hope we will give our citizens in Edo State.”

He noted that the structure of the campaign council was rooted in all the 192 wards across the state, adding that every organ of the party was captured.

Earlier, the State Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, disclosed that the campaign council comprised of 363 members, excluding the women and youth wings.

In his acceptance speech, the Director-General of the state campaign council, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, thanked the governor and PDP faithful for the opportunity to serve the party.

Iduoriyekemwen, however, promised to lead the party to victory come Sept.

In his remarks, the PDP governorship candidate, Barr. Asue Ighodalo, who thanked party faithful and leaders for the confidence repose in him, said Obaseki had laid a functional foundation at every sector that he would build upon.

Politics

Edo Poll: LP Group Hails Tinubu For Adhering To Zoning, Says Party Has Murdered Sleep In The State

Published

3 days ago

May 2, 2024

Editor

A pressure group known as Shine Your Eyes Group, ( SYEG), Thursday, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leaders of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Edo State for adhering to the principle of fairness, equity in the choice of it governorship candidates and running mate.

The group in a statement signed by its Chairman, Comrade Jonah Ifada and Secretary Osagie Omoregie, and made available to INFO DAILY late Thursday night, said the LP has murdered sleep in the state when the leadership of the party decided to go against the core principle of fairness, equity and justice by throwing a candidate from Edo South in a skewed primary.

The group members who are members of the LP in the state, was apparently reacting to a news report by the Benin Youth Council, (BYC), on Wednesday where its appealed to Barrister Ken Imansuangbon to sheath his sword and join hands with Olumide Akpata in his governorship bid.

Shine Your Eyes Group said Akpata should rather step down to a more popular Imansuangbon to avoid embarrassment at the September 21st governorship election in the state, noting that it is not the turn of Edo South.

The group argued, “Look at what President Tinubu and the leadership of APC did in Edo State. They decided to abide by the principle of fairness, equity and justice which are fundamental to any development just like what the PDP did. The Labour party should have taken a cue from the APC.

“Are you saying Olumide Akpata is more popular than great and experienced politicians like Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Lucky Imansuen and others who decided to drop their ambition in support of zoning? Akpata should do the needful and step down for Imansuangbon now and save the Labour party from shame. Imansuagbon has vowed to fight his case to a logical conclusion”, SYEG noted.

Recall that Imansuangbon had gone to court to challenge the emergence of Olumide Akpata as the candidate of the Labour Party.

Imansuangbon, in his petition, stated that Mr Olumide Akpata committed offences ranging from giving false information to the acquisition of citizenship of another country, which is a grand departure from the Nigerian Constitution’s accepted norms

The educationist wanted the court to determine whether Akpata “has not supplied or otherwise given false information to the INEC within the meaning or contemplation of the provisions of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022 read together with section 182(1) (a) and (j) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), among other allegations.”