AHEAD 2015 ELECTIONS: PDP moves for total control Ahead of the decisive 2015 general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is said to have resolved to change its fortune in the South-West geopolitical zone by taking control of the zone, as Sunday Tribune gathered that special assignments have been handed over to critical stakeholders for that purpose. Sunday Tribune findings revealed that in line with the party’s agenda to take over the South-West, a tactics team had undertaken a state by state analysis recently and had submitted its report to party leaders, who have begun to implement the report. Sources within the party confirmed that the Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, was among those given a special assignment in the operation reclaim South-West agenda. President Goodluck Jonathan and the new PDP Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, as well as other chieftain of the party, have repeatedly on every occasion restated their intention to reclaim the states they lost to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which had merged with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). Senator Obanikoro was last week sighted in Ondo State, during the bye election in Ilaje/Ese-Odo federal constituency seat which became vacant last year with the death of Hon. Rapheal Nomiye. A source said that the former senator was in town as part of his new assignment in respect of the South-West agenda. Also last week, the Senator was in the news for the role he played in the stoppage of a housing project being constructed by the government of Lagos State around the Third Mainland Bridge on a disputed land between the Federal Government and the state government. The minister had claimed that the project did not secure the nod of the National Inland Waterways Authority. But sources said the explanation given by the minister was only a tip of the iceberg. For one, it was said, that the FG, which had always extended the hand of fellowship to hostile opposition states, was not willing to condone what it saw as narrow-mindedness of leaders of those states. “Besides, look at what these state leaders call achievements. There are allegations of inflated contracts, among others. They will use federal resources to execute what they called urban renewal. We are not ready for such. We believe we must rescue South-West states”, a source explained. The source went on to reel off the high level of indebtedness of all the states under APC, saying the South-West is in trouble. “From the reports available to us, South-West is in serious trouble because of the huge debt burden they are piling on it. We have spoken to all right-thinking people in the region and they agreed with us,” he said, adding that the coming elections in Ekiti and Osun states would define the future of the South-West. But the ambition of the PDP might be a pipe dream if the Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola’s recent statement that the PDP lacked the capacity and political strength to defeat him is anything to go by. Aregbesola, following his adoption as the standard-bearer of the APC in the state for the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial election, on Saturday, took on the PDP and its chairman for insinuating that they would take over Osun State. He berated the PDP for allegedly confining Nigerians to deep pains, abject poverty, misery and hopelessness since the party took over the reins of power since 1999 at the federal level. Aregbesola, who spoke at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, said: “It is extremely difficult and impossible for the PDP to defeat or remove me from office. They lacked the capacity to do it. We would match them up in all ramifications”. “The PDP’s definition of power is brute force and if they decide to fight in the coming election, we would destroy them gently”. Earlier, in his remark, Deputy National Secretary of the APC, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai said that the APC would implement O’Meal, O’YES and other programmes of Aregbesola at the federal level if the party wins the presidential election in 2015. Across the 323 wards in the state, 355,729 members registered to adopt Aregbesola, while 269,631 voted for him, culminating in his endorsement for second term in office in the governorship primary organised at the ward, local and state level. Obanikoro had arrived Ondo State in company of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Chairman Amnesty Committee, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, was quoted as saying that he was in town to support the PDP. The minister was quoted as saying: “This election is not just a by-election, a representative at the national level is a serious position and don’t forget that the general election is less than a year away so any election that comes now we have to take it serious because there is need to ensure that the president comes back for the continuation of his transformation agenda.” Sources confirmed that the minister might have been given the role of an enforcer in the zone to ensure discipline and coordination, which have been lacking in some state chapters. Findings further showed that the issue of Oyo State has been of concern to the leaders of the party at recent meetings, but a source said that a surgical operation is underway to straighten things in the state. “In 2011, the indiscipline among some leaders of the PDP in Oyo State robbed us of the state. They actually collaborated and sponsored the governorship election of the opposition. Right now the wheat is being separated from the chaff,” the source said. Source : Tribune Newspaper
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 07:30:00 +0000
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