Twenty-four hours after scores of supporters of the winner of the Ogun
State Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary, Gboyega Isiaka,
stormed Abeokuta over an alleged attempt to withdraw his mandate, a
group loyal to a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji
Bankole, has described Isiaka as a fake candidate.
The group, Dimeji Bankole Movement, said this in a statement by its coordinator, Kayode Akintunde, on Tuesday. Bankole was reacting to the protest by the people of Ogun-West
senatorial district against an alleged plan by the national leadership
of the party to upturn Isiaka’s victory as the party governorship
candidate during the primary on Monday 8, December.
At the protest were elders from the zone such as a former Minister of
National Planning, Mrs. Ebun Oyagbola, and a former Deputy Governor in
the state, Mrs. Salmot Badru. They had warned the party against imposition, alleging that there was
a plan to replace their kinsman with Bankole who they said he did not
obtain any form.
However, the Dimeji Bankole Movement said, “We wish to state
unequivocally that Mr. Gboyega Isiaka who is being paraded by a group of
disenchanted members of the PDP in Ogun State as the governorship
candidate of the party in the 2015 election is a fake product produced
by an unauthorised primary.
“The National Working Committee had issued a directive postponing the
conduct of the governorship primary in Ogun State and pronounced that
any primary in the state was null and void. “It was based on this directive that a leading governorship aspirant,
Mr. Dimeji Bankole, and eight other aspirants obeyed the directive and
withdrew from participating in the primary while only two aspirants were
recalcitrant and took part in the primary.”
The group argued that it would amount to injustice if the NWC should uphold the result of that primary.
They stated further, “It is in this light that we regard the protest
of Monday, December 15, 2014 in Abeokuta by Mr Gboyega Isiaka’s
supporters as nothing but a red herring, orchestrated to cause
unnecessary panic and confusion within the rank and file of the PDP in
Ogun State.
“It was like beating about the bush and looking for something which
was not lost by them in the first place. The protest was a patent waste
of precious time and a futile exercise, as the NWC is only working to
correct a wrong process and not planning to replace Mr.Isiaka’s name as
alleged by the protesters.
“Such a protest won’t dissuade the NWC from doing what is just since
the body is composed of men of integrity and strong character. “We cannot but sympathise with them. Mr. Isiaka was tricked by the
organisers into believing that the governorship primary of December 8,
2014, was a genuine primary.
“The electoral committee from the national secretariat of the party
that was supposed to conduct the primary was not present neither were
observers from the Independent National Electoral Commission. Only
dummies will fall for such kind of deceptive primary.”
Source: THEPUNCH
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