Posted by By Tunde Odesola on
The fall of Lagos State to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2011 was the major issue at a PDP rally witnessed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Osogbo on Saturday.
The fall of Lagos State to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2011 was the major issue at a PDP rally witnessed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Osogbo on Saturday.
The National executive members of the party; Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Deputy governor of Ekiti, Dr Taye Lawal; his Oyo State counterpart, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja; Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs Olusola Obada; Senate Leader, Chief Teslim Folarin; PDP Board of Trustees member, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun; and Obasanjo were present at the rally.
The colourful rally was oraganised in honour of the new National Vice Chairman of the PDP (South-West), Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, at the Osogbo City Hall, Osogbo.
Oladipo, who hails from Osogbo, alluded to the loss of Osogbo to the Action Congress in the last general election, saying his emergence as the national chairman of the party in the zone, was an act of God.
It will be recalled that the AC swept to victory in major towns during the general election, leading to the opposition party controlling 11 of the 26 seats in the state House of Assembly.
Oladipo, who recalled joining politics in 1981, said Obasanjo flew into the country from the United Kingdom to witness the rally, adding that the task before the PDP in maintaining its political lead in the south-west was enromous.
He said, "The PDP must take decisive incursion into the territories of the enemy. We must take Lagos fair and square in 2011."
Obasanjo, who vouched for the organisational ability of Oladipo, vouched for the luck and political ability of the one-time classroom teacher.
But the AC‘s Director of Research and Strategy (South-West), Mr Sunday Akere, described the desire of the PDP to win Lagos in 2011 as wistful thinking.
Akere said, "It‘s ridiculous of the PDP to converge and talk about winning in 2011 when the guilt of the massive rigging they perpetrated in 2007 elections still hangs on their cold conscience.
"These PDP elements have no scruples at all. Nigerians vividly remember how Obasanjo charged PDP governors and leaders to make the 2007 election a do-or-die affair.
"They are at it again - the call by Oladipo in the presence of Obasanjo; Oyinlola and others is a call to get prepared for rigging in 2011. Nigerians, through legal means, will not allow PDP vote-riggers to enjoy their stolen mandates in the south-west let alone vote for them in 2011."
Oyinlola, in his speech at the event, cautioned political office holders seeking to contest Osun governorship election in 2011, to hold their fire until the party declared the race open.
Obasanjo, during the countdown to his re-election, rued over the control of Lagos by the AC from 1999 - 2003, vowing that the PDP would win the former capital city in the election.
But the then Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, won re-election in 2003 just as the incumbent Governor of the State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, emerged victorious in 2007, lengthening the rule of the AC in to three consecutive terms.