Bankole’s loyalists may dump PDP in Ogun •8 Assembly members to defect INDICATIONS emerged on Sunday that thousands of loyalists of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, may dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). A close source to the coalition of groups supporting the governorship aspiration of Bankole who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the decision was as a result of allegation of nonchalant attitude of the national leadership of the party on issues affecting the party in Ogun State. The source noted that the thinking of the groups might not be unconnected with the failure of the party’s leadership to be affirmative on its directive on the December 8 governorship primaries in the state. The source explained that the leadership of the groups would embark on state-wide consultation among all the groups with over 100,000 members in the 236 wards in the state, before a decision would be taken. The source said, “The groups observed that while some aspirants and delegates complied with the directive of the National Working Committee (NWC) on the matter, it was unfortunate that the national leadership of the party now appear to be giving preference to the aspirants that violated its directive in the list of candidates submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission. “The groups were miffed that a particular individual within the PDP in Ogun State was the one that championed the holding of the illegal primaries and also used the judiciary to impose aspirants on the party and electorates without any regard to the party’s constitution.” Meanwhile, no fewer than eight members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Ogun State House of Assembly are set to leave the party following the controversies trailing the party primaries. The eight lawmakers are said to have decided to leave the party for “greener pastures” on the heels of the list released by the PDP in the state purportedly as the authentic list of the party’s candidates for the 2015 polls. One of the aggrieved lawmakers in the Assembly, who spoke on the condition of anonymity with our correspondent on Sunday on the telephone, wondered why the National Working Committee of the party would “hand over the fate of tens of aspirants in the party to one man” to draw up the list of candidates. The lawmaker, who was one of those who had earlier defected with former Governor Gbenga Daniel from the Labour Party to the PDP about two months ago, said, “They called off the primaries in the state on the pretext that the national body would meet and communicate to the aspirants the next way forward. “We were still expecting this one to be done when they said three leaders of the party in the state -- JMK (a former Minister of Industries, Chief Jubril Martins Kuye); OGD (former Governor Gbenga Daniel); and Buruji Kashamu (Chairman, Membership and Mobilisation Committee of the PDP in the South West) – were asked to meet in Abuja to draw up a list of candidates at all levels, both the ones who contested and those who did not. “From the list they had submitted to the INEC, only Kashamu drew up the list. The State Chairman of the party (Chief Bayo Day) relied on Kashamu’s wide connections in Abuja to conduct the governorship primaries on December 8, despite a directive from the NWC, stopping the primaries.” “But from what had transpired, the national body, which said it would not recognise the governorship primaries, where only three aspirants contested and nine boycotted, has accepted the result because Gboyega Isiaka is Kashamu’s candidate. Other names follow the same pattern, coming from one person.” In justifying the acceptance of the result of the PDP governorship primaries of December 8 in Ogun State, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Friday, had said the state chapter of the party “did not get the NWC’s directive (stopping the governorship primaries) on time.” But the lawmaker maintained that it was not only the governorship primaries that was decided in Abuja.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 10:53:22 +0000
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