By Solomon Odeniyi
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party in the State of Osun, Dr Bayo Faforijin has reportedly confirmed that members of the party would be fielded under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 General Election in the state.
A source within the party secretariat confided in OSUN DEFENDER that the party chairman announced to the state executives of the party that the pact between SDP and APC is intact against speculations, fear and rumours in town as regards the coalition that came into being before the last Osun rerun that ensured APC’s victory during the last gubernatorial election.
Findings showed that the National Secretariat of the APC has resolved to honor its agreement with the SDP chieftain during the run up to the supplementary polls in the state.
There have been an array of opinion in the state and beyond that the surest occurrence after the election was betrayal by the APC. Another perception was that whatever the outcome of the pact, Otunba Iyiola Omisore and the leadership would only exploit the passions and commitment of committed party members for their personal gains by reaping only their personal interests leaving every other party members in limbo.
It was gathered that the chairman has told members of the state executive of the party that it would soon begin to ask its local chairmen to field its candidates for the post avail it in some local government areas of the state.
The source claimed that Faforijin would soon summon another emergency meeting to instruct state executives and chairmen of the party in conceded local governments to bring candidates who are viable and can bankroll their campaign successfully.
The source further disclosed that twelve elective political offices were conceded to SDP, which have not been specified in the agreement while the discussion is at the final stage. The offices are One Senatorial slot, three 3 House of Representatives and eight 8 House of Assembly for 2019 general election in addition to unspecified number of appointments in the mould of commissioners, Special Advisers”.
“We were also told that the ubiquitous posters and billboards of APC candidates we see around are not sealed or finally submitted to INEC or anywhere rather high level discussions is in top gear to resolve the impasse for APC to honour the terms of the agreement.
Any SDP candidate will contest on APC platform in any of the constituencies conceded to us and APC and SDP members are expected to vote for such candidates so also in other places as APC candidates.
However, any candidate that doesn’t fall into the conceded constituency can as well contest on SDP platform if he is assured of sufficient financial muscle and electoral values but the chairman concluded by saying he expected all party members to respect the agreement as long as APC respect their part of the deal”, the source added.
