PDP, PPN In Secret Talks

The camps of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the former governor of the state,Otunba Gbenga Daniel are meeting to find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis that made them to lose the state in the last general elections to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

P.M.NEWS findings revealed that many of the stalwarts of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), a political party under whose platform candidates in Daniel’s camp contested the April elections, are making frantic efforts to reconcile with the aggrieved members of the party and Obasanjo’s faction that is in control of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the state.

Speaking with our correspondent in Abeokuta, a stalwart of PPN and a former Chairman of Ifo Local Government, Hon. Alhaji Sikirulai Ogundele, said elders of the party are working hard to ensure that they resolve their differences with Obasanjo in order to contest the local government election in the state as one big family.

”The outcome of the last elections has taught us a bitter lesson that you cannot go to war with a divided house. If the unity is there you can imagine the impact that PDP as a party would have had in the last elections. At least, the story could have been very tremendous for the party,” he said.

Hon. Ogundele, a two-term House of Assembly member representing Ifo 1 State Constituency in the Ogun State House of Assembly, said the crisis that tore PDP apart in the state was avoidable if the two gladiators had shifted ground.

According to him, “the local government election is going to be another ball game entirely as we are going to ensure that Baba and OGD agree and present a common goal.”

On the possibility of the two groups working together, Ogundele said “the crisis degenerated to that level because election was near, and before we could do something reasonable to bring it under control, the candidates that emerged under OGD faction had opted for another party.”

He added: “Do not forget, as I am speaking with you, the case is still in court, but all that happened then is history, as a handful of us are already in PDP hoping to bring others back with the intention of going to the local government election as one house.’

“If the two groups can forget their differences, then the story is going to be a different thing for ACN which capitalised on our misunderstanding to wobble into victory in the state.

“I am very sure if we have a very free and fair election in the coming local government polls, ACN may not have up to six out of the 20 local government councils in the state.”

Corroborating Ogundele’s stand, a former member of the House of Representatives and a chieftain of PDP, Hon Kayode Jelili Amusan, while commissioning a Computer Centre built by him as part of his constituency project at Bode Olude in Odeda Local Government recently, said a handful of members of the two factions of the party are already united to reclaim Ogun State from ACN.

According to Amusan, ”we had already had meetings with Baba Obasanjo and the former governor, Daniel, and the two seem to be in agreement with the move. So I see no reason why PDP will not be back in governance in the state.”

While calling for commitment from the party faithful, Amusan opined that the unity of the party members is paramount and needed for now to reclaim their position in the state.

—Abiodun Onafuye, Abeokuta