Opinion: @PDPNigeria in Kwara State is finished!

by Lawal Abiola

Barely few months to the PDP primaries ahead of the 2014 elections, there seems to be an uneasy calm at the head of the ladder due to power tussle being played out by the hierarchical machinery within the opposition party. The state’s party chairman, Iyiole Oyedepo has stepped on toes; and he’s experiencing a turbulent time in his leadership of the party.

The PDP I grew up to know and support for many years is dead on arrival, while some of our ignorant supporters will fail to acknowledge that since the Bukola Saraki led PDP defected to the ruling All progressive party (APC) our party have been taken over by greedy men who are knocking on the doors of Aso-rock to lobby for their personal interest as opposed to the general interests of Kwarans.

You will recall that on September 5, Kwara PDP members went ballistic with the news of imposition and swearing in of one Amuda Olugbon as the chairman of Ilorin West Local government, the situation turned ugly and it took the intervention of the hotel security to avoid loss of lives.

Expectedly, staunch PDP supporters like me who has worked tirelessly without reward even in the face of trepidation had expected notable figures like Prob Oba Abdulrahman, Dele Belgore and co to uphold the inherent leadership of the PDP and chart a formidable course of action to win back the state in 2015, but no, they are the arrow head bringing confusion to the party and confusing the younger generation with their selfish ambition to grasp power by all means.

More surprising to see an old man bequeathed with wisdom and experiences in the public service exhibit so much foolery by resigning a federal position that is guaranteed to provide more jobs for Kwarans at the expense of his governorship ambition for his selfish gains. This is a slap on many Kwarans who fought tooth and nail to ensure that Prof Oba was given the position despite stiff opposition from some powerful elements within and outside of our party.

To add salt to injury, about 200 candidates will jostle for a meagre 35 slots available; the gubernatorial list keeps soaring as the election approaches. Some of the candidates thta have indicated interest so far are: Ben Duntoye, Ibrahim Bio, Gbemisola Saraki,  Prof Abdulrahaman Oba, Dele Belgore, Dr. John Dara, Sunday Adebayo Babalola, Alhajai Jani Ibrahim, Senator Simeon Ajibola, Sulaimon Ajadi and Alhaji  Kale Belgore.

To have quite a high number of candidates of this magnitude, one thing is certain; either the party lacks central leadership that commands authority or there’s a breakdown of party structure that makes it easy for candidates to exhibit high level of indiscipline never witnessed before.
Presumably, a lot of pressure is on the party’s excos each with its own candidates and the overall effect this will have on the outcome of the primaries and indeed the general election is nothing palatable.  Asides the money the party will make from sales of nomination forms, there’s nothing good in having old men that cannot observe decorum.

We have paved the way for the ruling party to have an easy ride come 2015. Sad that we can’t borrow a leaf from them on how they have master the art of consensus to avoid internal rancour.

This ship of ours called the PDP is fast sinking before our very eyes and we need new sets of captains to direct the affairs of the party.

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Lawal Abiola wrote in from Ilorin

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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