The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State is on the verge of becoming an empty house following the rift arising from its recent primaries on account of the emergence of some candidates believed to be loyal to Prince Buruji Kashamu.

For instance, at the governorship primaries monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Gboyega Isiaka emerged as the state PDP standard bearer, having scored 705 votes to defeat Jelili Kayode Amusan (151 votes) and Omoba Segun Adewale (zero vote). Over 900 delegates voted in the governorship primaries that were boycotted by eight of the party’s aspirants.

Aggrieved aspirants

The eight aspirants who boycotted the governorship primaries were Asiwaju Tony Ojesina, Prince Yanju Lipede, Dr. Remilekun Bakare, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Ishola, Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi, Professor David Bamgbose, Isiaq Akinlade, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye and former speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole.

Return of numerous groups

The PDP is made up of some groups which include the Chairman, Mobilisation and Organisation committee in the South West, Prince Kashamu, former Governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Dimeji Bankole and former Minister of Finance, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye.

Apart from these groups, the party in the state also has other groups like that of the former Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye which had made the party become strong and formidable.

Few months ago when Daniel, who had defected to the Labour Party with his followers, rejoined the PDP, many political analysts averred that the PDP was on the verge of reclaiming the governorship from the All Progressives Congress (APC) which dethroned it in 2011 due to a serious internal wrangling.

It was observed that apart from Daniel and Ogunleye’s groups, other groups such as those of Martins-Kuye and Bankole did not leave the party but they were just passive.

So, when all of them came together and began to work for the victory of the party, the PDP became the talk of the town. In fact, some pundits had rated the umbrella party high, saying that the PDP had come out of its hooks to dislodge the APC from the state.

However, all the groups seem to be at the mercy of the group led by Kashamu, who had been ‘maintaining’ the party while the other groups were away.

Kashamu, who had successfully installed the state exco led by Engineer Bayo Dayo shortly after the 2011 elections and had since been maintaining the party and attracting different people.

When Daniel and others rejoined PDP, the general belief was that Kashamu would be shoved aside while Daniel would call the shots but the reverse is the case as Kashamu has continued to dictate while other groups had no choice but to follow.

 Bone of contention

The bone of contention now, which may affect PDP’s victory, is the choice of candidates.

All the groups had gone the extra mile to ensure that their delegate’s lists were used for the primaries so that their candidates would emerge as party candidates but as at this moment, Kashamu’s endorsed candidates had the upper hand from the wards to the state level including the governorship.

Unity list

This development pulled the leaders of the losing groups together and they resolved to go for a “unity list” which would comprise delegates of all of them.

But Kashamu rejected the idea and insisted that he could not be part of the process that would deny the winners of the party primaries their victory.

According to findings, all the candidates that emerged were not Kashamu’s loyalists. Some are Daniel’s loyalists.

The candidates

For instance, for the Senate, the candidates that emerged include a former commissioner for works during Daniel’s administration, Waliu Taiwo from Ogun West; wife of Ijaw leader, Chief Bisola Sodipo-Clark (Ogun Central) and Kashamu himself, who emerged as the candidate for Ogun East Senatorial District.

For the House of Representatives, Oladipupo Adebutu, the son of pools magnate, Chief Kessington Adebutu, emerged as the party candidate for Remo Federal constituency, while Adekoya Adesegun Ijebu clinched the ticket for Ijebu North-East/Ogun Waterside. Both are loyalists of Daniel.

Others include a serving member of the House of Assembly from Ifo 11 state constituency, Adijat Oladapo-Adeleye (Ifo/Ewekoro federal constituency) while a former member of House of Representatives, and Hon. Amusan Jelili got the ticket for Abeokuta North/Odeda / Obafemi-Owode.

A reliable source hinted that the national leadership of the party waded into the crisis and came come up a unity list. It was said to have pruned the number of governorship aspirants from 11 to four, two from Ogun West and two from Ogun Central.

It was gathered that those favoured among the 11 aspirants by the party leadership include a serving member of House of Representatives from Yewa South/Ipokia federal constituency, Hon. Abound Akinlade; former General Manager of Gateway Holdings, Bodega Sakai from Ogun West while former Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Musharraf Tunji Ishola were picked from Ogun Central.

The PDP national leadership reportedly agreed with the idea of a “unity list” with a view to accommodating all the groups within the party in the state.

But there were conflicting reports about the composition of the unity list. A version had claimed that the unity list favoured Bankole as the governorship candidate of the party while another version said Sakai is the party’s standard bearer.

As of the moment, Tunisia’s name has been submitted at the INEC office but feelers from Abuja indicated that there may be an amendment in the list to prevent mass exodus of aggrieved party members to other parties.

Working together

Many of the aggrieved leaders have already approached the newly introduced Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state and had been reportedly accommodated.

Findings showed that some of them have been given some slots including a Senate ticket belonging to Ogun West as part of the process of working together ahead of the coming election. It was gathered that,Daniel and other aggrieved leaders have been asked to nominate a senatorial candidate and had reportedly nominated Bi Begotten.

Bankole was reported to be eyeing the governorship ticket of the SDP which had been given to a Worrier man and a serving Senator from Ogun West, Senator Akin Unshod.

Unconfirmed reports had it that Bankole had been tipped as the SDP governorship candidate, by the leader of the party, Aremo Segun Osoba.

The former Speaker was said to have been chosen as the substantive governorship candidate to replace Odunsi. But it had been denied by the SDP which said, it had not and would not replace Odunsi with Bankole.

SDP’s spokesman, Clement Adeniyi told our correspondent that Bankole had not become a member of the SDP and could not have become the party’s governorship candidate.

Meanwhile, there seems to be confusion in the state over the choice of the SDP governorship candidate as Dimeji Bankole Movement was insisting that there had been an arrangement between them and the leadership of the SDP to field Bankole as the governorship candidate.

The atmosphere would be clear next week, January 13, when the opportunity to replace governorship and house of assembly candidates by the parties would be closed.

As at the moment, those who were on the list of INEC as governorship candidates include: for PDP, Adegboyega Nasir Isiaka and his running mate is Bilau Adekunle.

For APC, the incumbent governor, Senator Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun is the governorship candidate while Yetunde Abosede Onanuga is the running mate. For SDP, Kamar Babalola Akin Odunsi has been chosen as the governorship candidate while his running mate is Olivia Olubukunola Onabanjo among others.