A former senator, Andrew Gbenga Babalola has said that former governor Rashidi Ladoja is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Oyo State.
This is just as Iseyin-born Babalola, who represented Oyo North senatorial district between 2007 and 2011, said that Chief key Bode George is the best man for the position of national chairman of PDP.
In an interview with Sunday Tribune, Babalola said there was nothing like alignment and realignment?, explaining that ‘I belong to the PDP. There is only one PDP in Oyo State today; get that right. There is no alignment or realignment as you called it; all those alignments are dead and buried. We have only one leader in Oyo State PDP and that is Senator Rashidi Ladoja. He is the leader of the party today in Oyo State.’
On who he thinks can be the best as national chairman from the array of contenders from the South-West, he noted that ‘?When we have one or two that we know are good candidates, then it cannot be difficult to pick which one is best. As of today, to me, Chief Bode George is our best shot. That is my view and that does not mean other people cannot say who they want. What I can tell you is that all the candidates are standard, they are good and qualified. So, whoever eventually emerges will be sellable. We can’t have problem with whoever will emerge chairman, because there will be an election. What is important is that everybody has agreed that there is a need to rebuild this party, irrespective of where you are coming from. The creed is that you should forget about where you are coming from or what you want; yes, everyone has ambitions and ambitions are the reasons political parties exist, but everyone is in agreement that rebuilding the party is of more importance.
‘I can tell you that everyone in PDP has learnt their lessons in the last few years; we all know that we were the one that lost elections by ourselves and not that the opposition was strong enough to win. Either at the federal or Oyo State level, that is the general consensus,’ he concluded?
