The Osun State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Bisi has described a stakeholder meeting by the Taminu-Turaki led caretaker committee of the party as ‘illegal’.
The meeting which was held at Osogbo on Thursday, was attended by former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
But Bisi, in a statement on Thursday evening, said he remains the elected chairman of the party, dismissing his purported removal by a ‘stakeholders’ forum’.
Bisi said the forum lacks legal powers or mandate to remove or tamper with the elected structures of the party.
He also described the comments made by Oyinlola during the meeting as an “open betrayal and a continuation of a failed 2022 plot to stop Governor Adeleke.”
The former governor had during the meeting, said the PDP is still alive in the state despite the defection of Governor Adeleke to the Accord Party.
Oyinlola explained that the purpose of the meeting was to educate “our teeming supporters and members of our party on the situation of things in the PDP, both at the national level and the state level.
“There have been some confusing narratives being pushed out about the status of PDP, especially in Osun State, and what we have done today is to narrate situations as they are to our members, so that the entire wards and local governments in Osun will know exactly where PDP stands today in Osun State,” Oyinlola said.
Addressing insinuations that PDP in the state has collapsed its structures into the Accord Party to ensure Adeleke’s emergence in the next governorship poll, Oyinlola said, “PDP is a party that has its tentacles in all the nooks and crannies of this country. It is not in our own time that we will allow it to die.
“We are holding on to PDP. If tomorrow, our governor decides to come back and be with his family in PDP, he is most welcome, but for now, PDP is standing in Osun State strongly.”
But Bisi, while reacting to the former governor’s comments, said, “I remain the chairman and as the PDP has no candidate for the August gubernatorial election, the party has endorsed Governor Ademola Adeleke for re-election.
“The division within the PDP national leadership threatened the candidacy of our governor. The right thing was done by the governor to seek a platform for re-election. Prince Oyinlola was even the first to make this suggestion. This minor rebellion has failed before it starts.
“The mainstream of Osun PDP stands by the governor, by our leadership and by our elected mandate as state officers which cannot be truncated by any unelected, illegal and unauthorised group.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
