oples Democratic Party (PDP) may go into the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Osun State with divided house, following the deep-seated animosity between the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Ademola Adeleke and bigwigs of the party, especially Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, SPEARGISTS reports.
The leadership of the party had brokered peace between the duo of Ademola and Ogunbiyi but the former reneged, leaving the crisis rocking the party unresolved.
Fresh facts however emerged yesterday on why the Adelekes have continuously shunned reconciliation with Ogunbiyi.
A highly ranked source within the party, disclosed that Dr Deji Adeleke had informed an echelon of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun of his intention to visit Ogunbiyi to reconcile him and his, brother Ademola and finally laid the crisis to rest.
Some leaders of the party including Hon. Segun Odekunmi, Baba Oyelayo Laoye, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa and others in anticipation of the meeting had gone to Ogunbiyi’s Ile Ogbo country home in order to facilitate the reconciliation. But no member of the Adelekes showed up, while the leaders left in utter disappointment.
A source within the Adeleke family who was at Iresi when Dr Deji Adeleke visited another cheiftain of PDP, Dr. Oludaisi Aina yesterday revealed why his boss has found it convenient to visit key members of Ogunbiyi’s camp at home but continue to shun going to reconcile with Ogunbiyi.
According to the source, “the PDP candidate may not not want Ogunbiyi to be involved in his campaign, as that might strengthen his (Ogunbiyi’s) political base and he may become a stronger threat to the political dominance of the Adelekes, as Senator Iyiola Omisore was during the last West Senatorial election.”
He added: “despite not very impressive attendants at rallies, they can not allow Ogunbiyi to take any credit in the event Senator Adeleke wins the election,” adding that “the Adelekes are not willing to honour the agreement put together by the national leadership of the party which they believe will be a condition for Ogunbiyi’s full participation and may become a topic for discussion should they visit him.”
The source who craved anonymous said in the alternative of going to appeal to Ogunbiyi, they would rather “romance members of his camp and woe them over in order to neutralise him. But this strategy seems to be backfiring as members of Ogunbiyi’s camp continue to insist that divide and rule method will not work on them because their loyalty is absolute.”
Another source within Adeleke’s camp lamented that the defectors’ mobilisation has not produced the desired result while the party leadership are still cold towards the campaign. He noted that this was why funds are not been released to oil the campaign structure.
“This development is already causing disaffection among the inner caucus of the Adeleke’s team. I only hope that the National campaign Committee set up will help boost the fledging performance of the party ahead of the elections to compensate for the non involvement of Rt. Hon Adejare Bello and Dr Ogunbiyi and their supporters,” he remarked
