The people of Oyo State in recent times have been looking forward for the emergence of a political party that will rescue them from the ruling but crisis ridden All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.
The existing political parties in the state, including the ruling APC, the erstwhile opposition Accord Party and the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have thus, been busy all the way re-energizing their parties to withstand the storm but none of them has been able to enjoy peace. It has been crisis galore as groups within the parties have been striving to seize power from one another.
The efforts of the embattled PDP, the onetime ruling party in the state was finally laid to rest as the determining factor of the political race, who was the former leader of Accord Party in the state, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja announced his withdrawal from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and announced his alignment with the newly registered African Democratic Congress (ADC).
With this development in the state, the people of Oyo State now have to stake their choice – looking towards the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), the crisis ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has ruled the state twice, and the newly registered, African Democratic Congress (ADC) where ex- Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja has finally found his love.
Senator Ladoja and his team decided to dump the newly rejuvenated PDP over the alleged double standard role being played by its national leadership headed by Prince Uche Secondus, over the party’s state congress in Ibadan where his group won all the allocated state seats.
According to the group, the congress held by the group in the state was the authentic, which was attended by the national officials led at the liberty stadium.
It said the parallel congress held by the other group led by Engineer Seyi Makinde at the Baptist Secondary School, Oke Ado was illegal.
The group alleged that all efforts they made to put the record straight went on the deaf hear of some hungry and money mongering leaders of the party in Abuja.
After all efforts to seek redress proved abortive, the Ladoja group that won over two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) votes to place second in the 2015 gubernatorial election in the state, finally dropped PDP for the Seyi Makinde group that won 50,000 votes at the same election.
There is no doubt that the embattled PDP in Oyo state is in dilemma, the party is back to its pre-2015 dilemma, the crisis that paved way for the emergence of Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s APC government in the state.
As the ruling APC government in Oyo State begins to warm up for the next election, leaders of the party should be seriously cautioned. It is time for them to forget about their selfishness, they should come together to fight for the course of the masses as they claimed to be masses-oriented party.
The defection of some big wigs of the party from the state should serve as a lesson to the leaders of the party, imposition of people over others should stop, the party should remain truly democratic. Governor Abiola Ajimobi and other leaders should allow supremacy of the party to prevail not minding who is going to succeed him, the records of his achievements are there for him. He remains the first citizen of the state to govern the state twice, he must not let the people of the state down with the exit of Senator Ladoja from PDP. The political climate of the state is now clear.
This personal opinion was sent in by our Contributing Editor, Rahman Salami
