To Capture Ondo Guber Poll is to Repeat Events of 1983, 1962, PDP Says To Ganduje

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Monday, replied the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Umar Ganduje, and told him that any attempt to capture the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State would be to invite a whirlwind and its attendant consequences.

Also, in an effort to decide on the proposed National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party, governors of the PDP are to meet on Tuesday to take a final decision

This is as the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives have equally been scheduled to meet with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Ganduje, had boasted that the party would “capture” the South-West by winning the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State.

Ganduje stated this when he led members of the NWC of the APC to a stakeholders’ meeting in Akure, the state capital, on Sunday.

The former Kano State governor said the ruling party was working very hard to have all six states under the progressive fold.

He therefore, vowed to ensure the APC takes over PDP-led Oyo and Osun States, in order to boost President Bola Tinubu’s support ahead of the 2027 general election.

While calling on the stakeholders to rally the APC candidate and the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ganduje said he would not reveal APC’s winning strategy.

But in a swift reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, at a press conference told Ganduje that Ondo State was not Edo State and therefore should not be taken for granted.

“We are all students of history. We know what in 1963 and in 1983. The story of operation wetie is still fresh in our minds. It was the attempt to capture and impose unpopular candidates on the people.

”We know the consequences of trying to impose Akin Omoboriowo on the people. To use federal might to capture the November 16 governorship election is a great threat to our democracy.

”Those who know that Ondo State is not Edo State, You cannot capture Ondo State. We are not orphans. Any attempt to capture Ondo will be resisted,” Ologunagba said.

He called on the security agencies to caution Ganduje over his reckless utterances before he plunged the country into crisis.

Ologunagba expressed worries that the collapse of democracy in Nigeria since 1983 was because of unguarded utterances and actions of reckless political actors who wanted to grab powers by force.

He contended that one of the problems of Nigerians was that they have refused to learn from history, urging the APC national chairman to be a good student of history.

Governors of the PDP are to meet on Tuesday to take a final decision on the proposed NEC meeting of the party.

Chairman of the PDP governors’ forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, said last week that the party’s governors would meet with other stakeholders to decide the fate of the NEC meeting.

It was reliably gathered that the governors would either meet virtually or physically in Abuja to take a decision.

THISDAY was told that the main point of the meeting would be to reach a consensus and create a soft landing for the embattled acting national chairman, Amb Iliya Damagum.

A source informed THISDAY that the governors would be looking for an unaligned chairmanship candidate from the north central zone.

According to the source, ”If the governors agree on a compromise candidate, then it will be followed by other meetings of the organs of the party.

”This will be followed by the meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Caucus of the party where the adopted candidate would be presented before the NEC meeting.”

In another development, the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives would meet with the NWC. The meeting with lawmakers is part of mounting pressure on the party to hold the NEC meeting as planned on Thursday.

The out come of the meeting between the NWC and House of Representatives would be forwarded to the party’s governors’ meeting on Tuesday

A possible and favourable outcome would see the NEC meeting holding and a replacement for Damagum announced at the NEC meeting

The PDP governors are however divided into camps. While the Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde and his Adamawa State counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri and the Taraba State colleague, Agbo Kefas belong to the same camp of pro-Damagum to stay in office.

In the same manner, Mohammed of Bauchi state and other governors are anti-Damagum, who believed he should go and allow the North Central zone occupy its rightful position

As at press time, the Olagunsoye Oyinlola reconciliation committee was still meeting at the national secretariat. The committee is expected to present its preliminary report to NEC.

After over three hours meeting with the PDP National Assembly caucus, the Oyinlola committee resolved to brief the NWC on the outcome of their meeting.

Briefing newsmen, Oyinlola said, ”We will brief the National Working Committee Tuesday,” but insisted that for the PDP to make progress, there must be unity within the party.

He refused to disclose the outcome of their meeting with the National Assembly caucus, but noted that unity was fundamental to the progress of the PDP.

”From our interactions with the Senators and members of the House of Representatives, we discovered that unity is essential for the party to make progress and we will brief the NWC tomorrow,” he said.

Chuks Okocha

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