The Minority Leader, Osun State House of Assembly, Honourable Kofoworola Babajide Adewunmi, has advised the National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to reject plot to scuttle the chance of the party in the upcoming governorship election in the state, noting that increasing efforts to impose a candidate on the party should be resisted.
Hon Kofoworola, in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, decried the attempt to shut an aspirant out of the Primary through manipulations, saying such action is at variance with the tenet of democracy, and as such, further expose those working against the return of PDP to power in Osun state.
The statement reads, “Before now, we have seen series of plot to stop an aspirant from contesting the Party’s primary, and yesterday, the manifestation of their evil mechanisation reached a crescendo.
“It is unheard of that a Committee assigned by the National leadership of PDP to conduct 3 ad-hoc delegates in the 332 wards were not allowed to do their job on the instruction of a Governor. This is impunity and should not be allowed to continue.
“In a democracy, it is the people that decide who represents them, and in this instance case, delegates are those with the mandate to determine who flies Osun PDP ticket in the upcoming election. Anything outside this is undemocratic and the outcome, as we can tell from past experience, will be disastrous.
“It is important to state here the role of Governor Seyi Makinde in the crisis rocking Osun PDP. As the sole Governor of the party in the zone, he should be at the forefront of bringing all warring sides together, not encouraging the shutting out of an aspirant from the race, as we have learnt.
“Therefore, the NWC under Dr Iyorchia Ayu should prevail on Governor Makinde to desist from interfering in Osun PDP and let the people decide who should be the candidate. Winning Osun is critical to the return of PDP to the centre in 2023.
“My position is that the NWC should put an end to the plot to shut an aspirant out from the primary and ensure that processes leading to the Primary is free of manipulations so as to have a transparent, acceptable, and credible exercise on March 7. A leader, no matter how highly placed, should not be allowed to impose a candidate on Osun PDP.”
