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Oyo State People’s Democratic Party takes steps to put its house in order to checkmate the influence of the ruling party in the state

The political chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Oyo State, have stepped up their reconciliatory moves in order to reposition the party to reclaim the governorship position it lost to Abiola Ajimobi of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in 2015. Ajimobi beat Adebayo Alao-Akala, immediate past governor of the state and PDP governorship candidate in the 2011 election to emerge as governor.

But the Oyo State PDP leaders believe that Ajimobi won the election because of the factionalism and in-fighting among its party members. In a bid to forge unity within the PDP, the elders’ forum of the party recently initiated reconciliatory moves. Richard Akinjide, chairman of the party’s elder’s forum,  said that the reconciliatory efforts were yielding the desired result, especially with the return to the party fold of  Rasheed Ladoja, former governor of the state,  and all his supporters in the 33 local government areas of the state.

He said Ladoja had met President Goodluck Jonathan severally to re-affirm his return to the party. He also said that Teslim Folarin, the immediate past senate leader, and Senator Lekan Balogun were working together to improve the political fortunes of the PDP and that the party would profit from these efforts anytime the local government elections were held in Oyo State. He recalled that during the bye election conducted recently in Oke-Ogun, PDP, won hands down because the election was free and fair.

Akinjide noted that ACN won in the 2011 polls because some enraged PDP leaders worked for the party and Ladoja formed his party, Accord Party.

Akinjide said the state governor has been unable to perform well because he is not a politician and was only imposed on the ACN and the people of Oyo State as a whole.

Lekan Balogun, a chieftain of party who was heading a faction of the PDP said he was happy that Ladoja, a former governor of the state has returned to the party. “I think it’s a welcome development. It’s a democratic process and people are free to choose the democratic party they want to belong. He was in PDP but for some reasons he left PDP and joined the Accord Party and once again, sanity prevailed and he is again back in PDP. There is nothing wrong with that? That is the part of the democratic process that I’m talking about.

Lekan said Ladoja gave no conditions for his return to the PDP. He also said the merger between the PDP and Accord Party in the state would also not lead to any problem that cannot be resolved amicably. “It’s like Accord Party returning to base. They are just returning to their home, bearing in mind that Accord Party came out of the PDP in the first instance, so it’s like returning to base,” Balogun said.

The reconciliation was, however, dismissed with a wave of the hand by the ACN. Dauda Kolawole, Oyo State publicity secretary of the CAN, said the new working relationship between the PDP and Accord Party would not stand the test of time.

He believes that the return of Ladoja to the PDP has been grossly over-hyped.  He said the hype was an acknowledgment that the PDP in the state has a dearth of quality people. “It is the people of Oyo State and God that the ACN depends on for an all round success in the administration of the state. Yes, Ladoja is a good and respected politician, but his politics has been over-hyped and mystified by people who have squandered the name of the party through their shameful rule of the state,” Kolawole said.

Mojeed Olaoya, secretary of ACN in Oyo State, said he was not surprised at the merger between PDP and Accord Party in the state. “Accord Party originally came from PDP and there is no reason to be surprised that they are coming together again. Theirs is not the first. Its like taking water from the well and pouring it back into the same well later, so why should that be news?” he asked.