The clamour for the harmonisation of Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state executive by a clique within the party is undemocratic and unacceptable to the leader of the party and former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.
Media aide to the former governor, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, who stated this in a statement on Wednesday, said influencing national officers of the party to take decision in favour of a group would not stand.
Latinwo, who was apparently reacting to a statement credited to Seyi Makinde Organisation, said Makinde did not need to beg Ladoja or sermonise to him on the need for a change of guard in the governance of the state.
He said although the former governor’s decision to dump the PDP was not final yet, Ladoja, as a democrat, would not be in a party where internal democracy, due and lawful process would not be reckoned with as cardinal principles.
He said Ladoja was already working hard to ensure the installation of a people’s government in the state in 2019, explaining that the former governor was only miffed at the undemocratic route taken by a group bent on forcing its will on others.
Ladoja’s aide, who said he read the statement credited to Seyi Makinde with amazement and got the meaning and innuendoes in its clearly, remarked that Ladoja, as a man on integrity, would not support any decision capable of sparking a chain of litigation that would consequently slow down progress in repositioning the PDP to be a government-in-waiting.
“Since the conclusion of the congresses on November 4, 2017, nothing concrete has been allowed to happen in the party in terms of the PDP reaching out to the people and repositioning itself as a government-in-waiting. This is unacceptable to Ladoja.
“As long as people continue to believe in influencing party officers to take wrong decisions, peace and unity will continue to elude the PDP. We hope the party hierarchy has learnt some lessons from the errors of the past.
“There are bound to be winners and losers in any contest. But in the case of Oyo PDP congresses, there were no victors, no vanquished. All the five parties that came together in the new PDP have representatives in the state executive.
“Accord got only seven; PDP got 13; Social Democratic Party (SDP), from which Makinde came, had three; Labour Party, three and the Alliance for Democracy, one slot.
“If Ladoja had wanted to behave like the selfish clique, he would have argued that Accord is the biggest or the most senior partner, in terms of numerical strength and judging by the results of the last governorship election, among the other parties and consequently take more slots.
“But Ladoja, desirous of working with others to effect a change of government in the state through the ballot, magnanimously accepted six out of 21 slots on offer. What demonstration of sacrificial leadership can be more than this?
“A situation where people who have failed to force their will on others at home and ran to Abuja to influence the National Working Committee (NWC) members to take decisions in their favour will not stand.
“Tinkering with the executive may spark a chain of litigation from others. How can you substitute the names of people who were not elected at the congress with the names of those duly elected at the valid conducted congress?” Latinwo asked rhetorically
