The Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State on Sunday elected new executive team headed by Mr. Soji Adagunodo to direct the affairs of the party barely six months to the governorship election in the state.

Adagunodo had about two years ago emerged the chairman at a congress which was boycotted by the other faction loyal to Senator Iyiola Omisore.
The same thing played out again on Sunday as Adagunodo was returned as the chairman unopposed and the Omisore’s faction headed by its Chairman, Dr. Bayo Faforiji, failed to participate in the congress which they described as an illegality.

The PDP congress, which was held at the Osogbo Township Stadium, had many chieftains of the party in attendance and it was monitored by the national officers of the party led by Emmanuel Agbor, who is the Chairman of the Electoral Committee.

Some of the notable PDP leaders in the state that attended the congress included a former National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo; a former deputy governor, Chief Olusola Obada; a former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Akinlabi Olasunkanmi; a former National Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, and a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Oluwole Oke.

Also in attendance were a former Secretary to the Osun State Government, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade; Prince Francis Fadahunsi, a former chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa; and a former Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Adejare Bello.

The new chairman said the door of the opposition party was opened to all who had been making enquiries on how to join the party and work with others to restore the glory of the state.

Adagunodo said, “The PDP will by the grace of God provide the much needed rallying point for teachers, civil servants, doctors, farmers, students, pensioners and all the great people of Osun State who have been impoverished by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola administration in the last seven and a half years.

“It is highly unimaginable that a governor who inherited an economically viable and socially stable state from the PDP in November 2010 has turned the state into the most heavily indebted state in Nigeria and one with the lowest sustainability index by 2018.

“For members of other political parties who have been indicating interest in joining the PDP but were constrained by the crisis of the last two years, I want to tell you that the siege is now over and our doors are wide open for you to come and join us.”

However, Faforiji, who spoke on behalf of the Omisore faction of the party, described the congress as another illegality.

He said this was the reason the officials of INEC did not monitor the exercise.

Faforiji said, “It is an illegal congress because it is against the constitution of the PDP. You can see that the whole thing was not monitored by INEC. What that means is that the congress is a futile exercise. “

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress in the state has asked the PDP members to stop wasting their time on how to wrest power from the ruling party.

The APC spokesperson, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said this in a statement he issued on Sunday.

He tasked the opposition party to sort out its crisis first before planning to reclaim power from the APC.

Oyatomi said, “A party that cannot conduct ordinary ward congress in unity cannot stand in the way of the progressive APC. The PDP is populated by unserious people who cannot rule the good people of Osun State.”

Culled: punchng.com