Choice of candidate tears Osun PDP apart

Crisis is brewing in the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the selection of its governorship flag bearer, it was learnt yesterday. The primaries is scheduled for Osogbo, the state capital on March 26. The governorship poll willhold on August 9.
Sources said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s advice to the troubled chapter to pick a consensus candidate among the aspirants have been jettisoned, following their refusal to step down for one another and mounting agitations for primaries by their supporters.
The aspirants are former Governor Isiaka Adeleke, who until 2011, was a senator, former House of Representatives member Hon. Wole Oke, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, and the former deputy governor, Senator Omisore. But, the contest has been narrowed down to Adeleke and Omisore, who have embarked on aggressive internal campaign in support of their aspiration.
Members told our correspondent that, following the President’s advice, a section of the party started to root for Omisore’s candidature, based on the criteria that he has money to oil the party’s campaign machinery and he hails from Ife/Ijesa District, the birth place of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
However, the agitation for the adoption of Omisore as a consensus candidate has created division in the party as influential party elders pointed out that the ruling party may embark on media campaign against his candidature as a prime suspect in the Bola Ige murder trial.
At the recent meeting of the select stakeholders in Osogbo, it was resolved that Omisore, although a dedicated party leader and financier, may not be marketable at the poll, owing to what they described as “the problem of perception”. But, pro-Omisore supporters perceive Adeleke as a candidate who lacks resources to fund a state-wide campaign.
A source said: “We are in the electioneering period. In our party, it is believed that, if Omisore emerges as the governorship candidate, his detractors will always link his political career to the tragedy of Ige’s murder, although he has been cleared by the court and absolved of the charges. Ige’s son, Muyiwa, has been protesting that he is the prime suspect. You know that the people of Osun and Southwest are still bitter over the gruesome murder of the deputy Afenifere leader.
He added: “The party came to this dilemma. If Omisore will not be endorsed, who is capable of challenging Aregbesola? That was how some leaders started rooting for Adeleke, who initially, had indicated an interest to return to the Senate in 2015. But, it is not the end of the matter. Omisore is still protesting and he believes that he will get the ticket at the primaries”.
Another source said that “there is no iota of truth in the rumour that the Osun PDP has resolved to adopt Senator Isiaka Adeleke as the consensus candidate”. He said that the former governor joined the race late and did not purchase the nomination form before it was closed.
The source also denied that President Jonathan had a candidate in mind when he suggested the consensus formula to the chapter at the meeting he held with its leaders in Abuja.
He added: “There was election in Anambra. Did the President put down anybody? Is the President putting down anybody in Ekiti? The fact is that the equation on ground favours Osun West, where Adeleke and Olasunkanmi Akinlabi comes from. It has been suggested that a Muslim candidate will rub shoulders with Aregbesola and the two of them are Muslims. Adeleke joined the race because the equation favours him.
‘But, the President has told our leaders that he has no candidate in mind. He only urged them to present a person as a consensus candidate”.
According to the source, aspirants had up to December 31 to indicate their interest in the ticket by paying N5m for the nomination form, pointing out that Adeleke did not observe the guideline.
He added: “On January 8, after the deadline, only three candidates paid the money; Akinlabi, Omisore and Oluwole Oke. Adeleke did not pay the amount. So, where is he starting from? He just flying a carte.
The party source said that primaries will hold, stressing that it is in the interest of the party. He said: “One of the aspirants is desperate. he wants to subvert and manipulate the process. That was why the secretary of the party, Major Raphael Towobola, who hails from Ile-Ife, was suspended for one month so that he will not be around during the primaries holding on March 26”.