Posted by By Jide Osokoya on
The battle of wits between the Ogun state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, has degenerated to the level that the governor and his supporters have intensified efforts to ensure Iyabo's recall from the Senate.
The battle of wits between the Ogun state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, has degenerated to the level that the governor and his supporters have intensified efforts to ensure Iyabo's recall from the Senate.
P.M.News reliably gathered that the governor, who is seriously pained by Iyabo's alleged 'provocation and embarrassment,' is not hiding his mission of ensuring that the former first daughter is stripped of her senatorial title.
To this effect, the governor's supporters and aides have mobilised party leaders and supporters in the Ogun Central Senatorial District, to massively sign a document seeking the recall of Senator Obasanjo-Bello from the National Assembly.
An impeccable source, privy to the whole exercise, alleged that money was openly used to lure the expected signatories, some of whom refused to play along and were said to have alerted Iyabo's father, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
The move to recall Iyabo met a strong stone wall yesterday, when the state Commission for Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Dupe Oduwole, an Owu indigene, allegedly attempted to lure the Owu people to disown Senator Iyabo, as she was openly rebuffed.
Said the P.M.News source: 'The Health commissioner, yesterday, made an attempt to convince us to sign the document for the recall of Iyabo, but we told her it is not possible. Even the PDP chairman of Ward II (Totoro), Mr. Ogundipe, has been avoiding her over the issue.
'I must tell you that the entire Owu indigenes are solidly behind our daughter (Iyabo) and we wonder why the governor and his people are so desperate to deprive us of our noble position in the Senate.'
Another source said the people of Owu are already gearing up to stage a public protest against the move by the state government to recall Iyabo, saying they dared the governor to follow his threat to a logical conclusion. Speaking with P.M.News on the development, a PDP chief in Abeokuta North Local Government and Owu community leader, Alhaji Bakai Okedara, said it is not possible for anybody to recall Iyabo from the Senate.
'We are aware that there is a massive campaign to mobilise people against the senator, but I believe it is an attempt in futility. What should be done is to amicably resolve the issue at hand and not escalate it,' Alhaji Okedara said.
Contacted on phone, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, who is currently in Holland for an international conference on maternal health, told P.M.News that she was aware of the move to recall her, but declined further comments. Efforts to get the Chief Press Secretary to governor Gbenga Daniel, Mr. Wale Adedayo, for his own reaction, proved abortive, as he refused to pick several calls made by us.