Protagonists vow to fight to the end
Party’s NWC accused of imposition
Showunmi’s counsel warns mischief makers
Ahead of the 2023 general election, the battle for the governorship ticket in the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party is threatening to push the party into a gorge.
The party has continued to be assailed with twists and turns of political intrigues coupled with a truckload of shenanigans that have dangerously configured the country’s main opposition party in the state.
Stakeholders have, however, continued to link the inability of the opposition party in the state to take back power from the ruling All Progressives Congress to what they described as imposition of candidates by the National Working Committee of the PDP. This state of affairs has lasted for over one decade.
At the centre of the current political logjam are three political heavyweights and prominent sons of the state. They are Segun Showunmi, Ladi Adebutu and Jimi Lawal, all well-known chieftains of the party.
For the three contenders, there seems to be no place any longer for surrender or retreat as some have vowed to pursue their ambitions to a logical end, including seeking legal actions.
At the moment, there are many cases before the courts initiated by aspirants as well as party stakeholders and analysts have said that there may not be an end in sight yet.
Some Ogun State indigenes who spoke in different interviews with The Point noted that this could have been a good time for the PDP to actualise its dream, given the fact that the ruling party is also enmeshed in its own internal contradictions at the moment.
Former Governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, had publicly alleged that the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, was rigged into office in 2019. Amosun had vowed that Abiodun would come up short in his quest to return to power in 2023.
Responding, the governor said he would not be distracted and insisted that the state was “not anybody’s father’s inheritance.”
Members of the ruling party in the state have also, in recent times, been reported to have moved to one political party or the other.
However, analysts have said that, as it is now, there may be no way the PDP in the state can profit from the seeming battle of wits and ego raging between the two APC bigwigs.
“LET THE CANDIDATES EMERGE THROUGH A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. WHERE THIS FAILS, LET THE COURTS DECIDE. WE WILL EXERCISE OUR RIGHTS AND PICK THE BEST FOR THE STATE WITHIN THE LIMITED BUT FAIR CHOICES”