PDP In Dilemma Over Oyinlola

Attempt by the leadership of Peoples
Democratic Party ( PDP ) to unite the
Osun State chapter of the party and its
South West Zone ahead of the August
governorship election in Osun State as
well as the forthcoming 2015 general
elections may have hit the rocks .
Sources close to the National
Secretariat of the party told Sunday
Independent on Friday that the recent
attempt to woo the estranged
suspended National Secretary of the
party , Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, back
into the party as a major ploy in
achieving the set objectives , and also to
prevent him from working for the
opposition All Progressive Congress
( APC) , is set to fail .
According to sources , the current efforts
to win back Oyinlola into the
mainstream of the party is heading for
failure due to the refusal by some
elements within the party to allow the
battle for supremacy between the
loyalists of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo and the current president,
Goodluck Jonathan, end in the larger
interest of the party .
Oyinlola , a known loyalist of Obasanjo ,
last year lost his seat following a court
judgment in a suit instigated by a
Jonathan loyalist and sworn enemy of
Obasanjo , Buruji Kashamu.
He , however , got reprieve from the Court
of Appeal , which ordered him back to
office, but the party in refusing to
reinstate him , took the matter to the
Supreme Court and continued to shut
him out of office.
The process of selecting the PDP
governorship candidate for the
forthcoming election threw up another
crisis in Osun State chapter of PDP with
former Osun State Governor and an
astute politician, Isiaka Adeleke,
dumping PDP for APC, in protest over
alleged shoddy treated meted out to him
during the party ’s primary election .
Wanting to capitalise further on the
cracks in the Osun PDP and South West
in general , national leaders of APC
openly courted Oyinlola , asking him to
dump the PDP and pitch his tent with the
opposition party.
At a hurriedly put together meeting to
salvage the situation, the PDP leadership
and the presidency met with Oyinlola
last week to iron things out and urge
him to stay with the party.
Within the same period, leaders and
stakeholders within the PDP in the South
West met to resolve their difference ,
most especially , the crisis created by
ouster of Oyinlola and his replacement
with Prof Wale Oladipo as the National
Secretary of the party.
The meeting between the presidency
and Oyinlola did not achieve its objective
as both camp reportedly stuck to their
guns .
While Oyinlola was asked at the meeting
to support the candidate of the party,
Senator Iyiola Omisore , for the
governorship election in Osun State and
also to help in the campaign of the party ,
Oyinlola was quoted to have stoically
insisted that he will only listen to the
plea of the PDP leaders when he’ s
reinstated as the National Secretary of
the PDP as ordered by the Court of
Appeal , while the party should also
withdraw its appeal at the Supreme
Court against the Appeal Court judgment
which reinstated him to office.
The President was said to have said
that the issue would be looked into , but
did not make any commitment on
whether the PDP would be asked to
withdraw its appeal on the issue , which
is pending at the Supreme Court.
The issue was further complicated when
at a meeting held by southwest
leadership caucus last Monday night ,
called by one time Deputy National
Chairman of PDP ( South West) , Olabode
George , it was agreed that in the spirit of
genuine reconciliation , support should
be given to Professor Wale Oladipo to
continue in office as PDP National
Secretary .
In the light of this , it was agreed that
Oladipo would be ratified as the National
Secretary of PDP at the proposed
National Convention of the party, since
opposition against him from his zone
has finally been doused .
In view of the open opposition shown
against his resolve to return to office by
both the presidency and the party
stakeholders , Oyinlola ’s supporters were
said to have met and took a decision
not to take any move for reconciliation
from the side of the party or the
presidency , serious anymore.
According to a source , the issue of the
imbroglio goes beyond the aspiration of
Oyinlola or Prof Oladipo , but that of ego
of their godfathers.
Obasanjo , it was said, was angry over
the support tacitly given to Jonathan
and Buruji by the South West
stakeholders in adopting Prof Oladipo for
the office of the secretary, while Oyinlola
is still battling the party at the Supreme
Court.
Even so , one of Oyinlola’s staunch
supporters told Sunday Independent
that the group is aware that the party
stalwarts are actually playing politics
with the supposed peace move made
towards Oyinlola, and that all the
presidency and the party wanted was to
make use of Oyinlola in the efforts at
winning the Osun election and later
dump him .
Asked if Oyinlola will follow the footstep
of Adeleke by moving over to PDP, the
source reply in the negative, saying the
most important issue at hand for the
Okuku - born Prince was the resolution of
the matter before the Supreme Court,
which he hoped will be in his favour , and
return to office as the National Secretary
of PDP .
A highly placed member of the party who
spoke to this newspaper in confidence ,
expressed reservations over the
imbroglio warning that the party might
suffer greatly for it , especially in the
South West, if it eventually approached
the 2015 general election with a divided
house , most especially , if the current
disdain shown towards Obasanjo is not
reversed and truce brokered as quick as
possible .
Sunday Independent recalled that this is
the third time attempts at amicably
resolving the issue with Oyinlola since
Adamu Muazu came in board as PDP
National Chairman , has failed.
Muazu since coming on board as the
National Chairman of PDP on January
20 after approval by the party ’s National
Executive Committee ( NEC ) that he
should replace Bamanga Tukur , who
resigned from the office, had met
Oyinlola twice between January and
April with a view to resolving the crisis
caused by his ouster as the National
Secretary of the party, but has not
succeeded in convincing the former Osun
State governor to forgo his mandate as
PDP National Secretary.
Before attending the last Tuesday
meeting with the President , his Vice and
the National Chairman held at the
Presidential Villa , Oyinlola was reported
to have had a meeting with former
President Olusegun Obasanjo in
Abeokuta last Sunday where some
critical decisions were taken on certain
issues concerning the party.