As the crisis rocking Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Oyo State continues to deepen, a stalwart of the party, Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan, has stated that Governor ‘Seyi Makinde was not interested in any genuine reconciliation with aggrieved members of the party.
He gave the opinion during a chat with Vanguard, following their exclusion from attending the party’s caucus meeting held at the Government House on Monday, where some other leaders of the party were present.
He said: “I have known the governor never to be a genuine person. He said he met with leaders of the party. Are we not leaders of the party as well?
“We heard the party chairman said he had reached out to us for the meeting. You need to re-interview him to tell you who and who he sent meeting invitation to.
“Even then, as the state party chairman who knows there is crisis in the party, ask him the personal efforts he made to reconcile aggrieved side, he only act as directed.”
“Some people said I did not attend Saraki’s reconciliation meeting held in August at the the Government House.
“Yes, I didn’t attended the meeting because the aggrieved leaders of the party had earlier met with the reconciliation committee headed by Dr. Bukola Saraki in the morning at an hotel in Ibadan.
“So some of us decided not to meet again with Governor Makinde for the afternoon’s meeting because it not necessary again; we had met the committee and made our stand known, that’s all.
“What the governor is doing will have great negative impacts on the chances of the party securing the state in 2023.
“Our resolve is that they should take the party structure back from him and hand over to leaders of the party. PDP is not his Omituntun organisation,” he posited.
Others who spoke to Vanguard in their separate reactions, also expressed their displeasure over their exclusion from the meeting.
In his remark, the Arole’ Ileba, Nureni Akanbi, said: “I never received any invitation to the PDP caucus meeting. I was not called nor invited to their meeting.
“The last time Governor Seyi Makinde called me this year was after Bukola Saraki came for a reconciliation meeting.
“He called me the second day and said he just wanted to greet me and that he would call me back when he got back to Ibadan from Abuja,” Akanbi stated.
Former Majority Leader of the state’s House of Assembly, Mr. Michael Okunlade, he said: “Alhaji Wasiu Adeleke sent me a message, inviting me to a PDP caucus meeting.
“But he later sent another message, asking me to disregard the invitation, that it was sent to me in error.
“He said there was a mix-up in the invitation sent earlier that the meeting was strictly for state caucus as it is enshrined in the party’s constitution.”
Another stakeholder of the party, Femi Babalola, popularly known as Jogor, said: “I am one of the aggrieved and I was not invited.
“The aggrieved members were left out. I Femi Babalola Jogor was not invited to their caucus meeting.”
Another aggrieved leader from Ogbomoso and a former member of the state’s House of Assembly, Elder Matthew Abioye, disclosed that he was left out of the meeting.
He added that he did not receive any letter of invitation, saying: “The invitation was circulated within other faction.”
Speaking to Vanguard, a stalwart of the party from Oke-Ogun zone of the state, Pa Elisa Olanrewaju, denied receiving any invitation to the caucus meeting.
He said that neither him nor other aggrieved leaders from his zone received any message inviting them to a caucus meeting.
