EDITORIAL: PDP In Osun After The Convention Debacle

Are the Yoruba in the PDP just discovering that they have no place in that
party? From the moment Obasanjo left office in 1999, the Yoruba elements in the party were consigned to the dustbin With eggs splattered all over their faces, the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] players in the Southwest now have to find a new line in order to shore up whatever is left of their tattered credibility.

Incredibly, the new face-saving propaganda is that, “The vice presidency is going to be zoned to the Southwest”. Anyone who believes this fantasy is liable to believe just about anything including the proposition that pigs can fly.

It should by now be very obvious that the PDP has nothing to offer the Southwest. Niyi Akintola SAN, a Yoruba progressive, seminally observed few days ago in the aftermath of the Abuja debacle that, “Are the Yoruba in the PDP just discovering that they have no place in that party? From the moment Obasanjo left office in 1999, the Yoruba elements in the party were consigned to the dustbin… The stand of Governor Wike and his co-travelers that the Yoruba matters not in PDP is nothing new. It is simply a continuation of the segregation of the Yoruba from the mainstream of the PDP and its activities.’’

At best, the Southwest is just there to make up the numbers, much like the substitutes bench in a football match. Occasionally, they could have their usefulness, but that is just about it, very much like extras in another person’s movie.

There are valuable lessons to be learnt here, particularly in the State of Osun which has a governorship election coming up on the 22nd of September, 2018. It’s just round the corner, and it will be pivotal. The [divided] Osun State wing of the PDP with less than a year to go cannot be described as a government-in-waiting.

First of all, the party, organisationally is in disarray. They cannot even agree on a delegate list. If they cannot work out a give and take formula to harmonise a list of delegates to their own national convention, how on earth can they handle the increasingly complex mechanism of the government of the State of Osun?

The PDP clearly has nothing to offer the Yoruba at the center and is ill-prepared for governance in the state of Osun. The election is pivotal because Osun needs continuity.

There is a need to build upon the sterling progress made by seven years of dedicated work by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and his team. It will be tragic to throw it all away by handing over the State to a fractitious, disheveled team with no clout at the center and no programme worth talking about to continue the rejuvenation and reconstruction of the state.

The debacle last Saturday has clearly put the State of Osun on notice. The PDP has nothing to offer the Yoruba nationality and its Osun wing is completely out of sync with the tremendous pro-people elevating progress made in the last seven years. The advance in every sphere is real, if you seek to know what Aregbesola has achieved, do come to the State of Osun and look around you.

The PDP which is clearly unfit to govern will reverse the gains and Osun will be back to square one. There is clearly no alternative now than to consolidate the gains through continuity. This model has worked admirably in Lagos and is vitally needed in Osun. You have been forewarned!