When Oyo PDP made peace
On February 10, 2012 · In Politics
By OLA AJAYI
THE saying that there is neither permanent friend nor permanent enemy in politics but permanent interest came to play in Ibadan last Friday when all the chieftains within the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State came together under one umbrella to bury the differences that had hitherto divided the former ruling party in the state.
The division was so intense that major chieftains of the party deliberately worked against the party in the 2011 elections and ensured that the immediate past Governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala did not win the election despite the influence he wielded in the state.
It was surprising to see the kinds of Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, the Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Senator Teslim Folarin, former Senate Leader, senator Lekan Balogun, a strong chieftain of the party, Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo, former Vice National Chairman, South West, Elder Wole Oyelese, Former Minister of Power and Steel, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, former Deputy Governor of the state, Azeem Gbolarumi, former Deputy Governor of the state.
Others at the meeting included; General Raji Rasaki,(rtd), Chief Olayiwola Lakojo, former SSG in Akala’s administration, Dr. Saka Balogun, former Chief of Staff, Alhaji Adigun Irawo from Ibarapa, Micheal Fagbohun, Moruf Atilola, former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly to assemble in the same place.
National leadership
Prior to that time, Folarin and Oloye Akinjide could best be described as cat and mouse that rarely sets eyes on each other. The meeting tagged, PDP stakeholders Forum could be described as the most successful peace move since the hegemony of the party fell like a pack of cards in the state. Even the ones earlier organized by the national leadership of the party could not solve the riddle that kept the factions apart.
Kudos to the leadership style of Oloye Jumoke Akinjide. At the forum where Akala was visibly absent but represented by his former SSG and Chief of Staff, it was evident that the party was actually ready for true and genuine reconciliation. All the factions assessed the whole situation that led to the failure of the party to occupy the Agodi government House.
They all regretted the negative roles that they played in the election saying it is now they can fully understand what they lost. Earlier, according to all of them that spoke, they could hold meeting anywhere in the state, but, now that it is another political party that rules the state, it is not easy for them to hold meetings in places of choice.
Jumoke Akinjide, Arapaja and others at the meeting
As they lamented the benefits they lost at the state level, they bit their fingers of the loss at the national party. Senator Lekan Balogun, who spoke extensively on the need for unity and cohesion among them, said it was an insult that Oyo State was only given a single ambassadorial slot where states like Ogun State has two-three slots. He enjoined all to go back and mend all the broken fences by telling their followers that they had buried the past behind them and have now resolved to work together as one family.
He said, “If we had looked at the aspect of putting the right peg in the right hole, the crises would have been minimal. Let all us, as leaders of the party go back home and inform our members at the ward, Local government that the crisis is over and that we should forge ahead to move the party forward so that we can win future elections in the state. The crisis had caused us to lose many things. while some states in the country got two to three slots of ambassadorial nominees, Oyo only has one. Even, Ogun State has three. This is not good enough”.
Oloye Jumoke Akinjide who beamed generous smiles intermittently to show the contents of her minds, said if the big-wigs of the party had decided to work together, there was no way the ruling party, Action Congress of Nigeria could have won the election.
She noted further that the relevance of the party in the state still came to the fore at the rerun House of Representatives election in Oorelope/Irepo Federal Constituency where she said the party led others by 1,821 votes adding that by Saturday when election would hold in seven units where results were cancelled owing to electoral violence that was allegedly sparked off by ACN, victory would go the way of the party.
She added that the same feat could be achieved in the forth coming local government elections in the state. Oloye Akinjide said the success of the programme should not be ascribed to her but the elders who had heeded her call.
Her words, Thank God that the elders of the PDP in the state came together. They said I initiated the peace meeting, who am I. Let us bear it in mind that yesterday is gone, today is a new day.
Oyo PDP is waiting for us, south west is waiting for Oyo, Nigeria is waiting for the South west. We are the head, we shall not be the tail. The love we should show to the party should go beyond any individuals. So, henceforth, don’t let us allow any intruders to sow any seed of disunity among us. All of us here are guilty. If all of us work together, we will win.
At the stakeholders meeting of the party that held at the Premier Hotel in Ibadan, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide and the former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin embraced each other and decided to bury the past behind them.
Describing the meeting as very successful, she stressed that now that the factions of the party had come together, all they needed to do was to take back their right heritage which is the governorship seat in the state.
Alhaji Adeojo, who coordinated the meeting ensured that everybody on the high table was given ample opportunity to talk and all underscored the need for unity and progress so that the party could regain its lost glory in future elections in the state.
When speaking, Senator Folarin said, he had actually stepped on toes during the crises begging openly that he should be forgiven.
Dr. Balogun who represented Akala at the meeting did not mince words when he said that the absence of Akala at the meeting was occasioned by the wrong advice that some of them at the high table gave him and that if they had wanted Akala to attend the meeting, he would not have hesitated.
In politics at times, one plus one may not be equal to two. If one had considered the enmity that reigned between the factions especially between Akala, Jumoke on one side and Lekan Balogun and others on the other side, one would have said it was impossibility to come together again.
The crisis was so intense that Akala’s government then wanted to ensure that Senator Folarin did not get off the hook of the allegation of murder of a factional chairman of the national Union of Road Transport Workers in the state, Alhaji Lateef Salako aka Eleweomo against him. even, when the powers that be at the presidency instructed that the accused be released, the state government then insisted on continuing in his prosecution.
These differences, having been put behind them, what political observers are saying is that will this reunion be sustained?
Equal distribution of positions
Senator Balogun sounded a note of warning that as the reconciliation continues, there must be equal distribution of positions to all that merit it and not to use any backdoor means that would further fester the ember of disunity adding that injustice displayed from the ward level to state level was the genesis of the crises
. With the continued boycott of the peace meeting by Chief Akala, does it mean, he still nurses grudges against the Ibadan indigenes that stood against him on his trip to the Government house for the second term?
Now, that the forces that actually determine election results in the state have united, it is a strong message to the ruling ACN that it needs good governance to convince the people of the state in the future elections.
