Daud Olatunji
Sikirulah Ogundele, the re-elected Chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),by a faction of the party has raised concerns about the legitimacy of Ladi Adebutu’s faction in the party, describing those aligning with Adebutu as “paid loyalists.”
PLATFORM TIMES reports that Ogundele who was the former chairman of the party in the state, held a congress with a factional group of the party.
Ogundele secured a second term as PDP chairman, saying that the court will ultimately decide which faction of the party is authentic.
Ogundele’s comments came on the heels of a PDP state congress held on Saturday that saw him emerge as the party’s chairman for another term.
He stressed that the congress, which he insists followed due process, was supervised by the national leadership of the PDP, due to the internal division at the national level.
“We cannot build something on nothing,” Ogundele said, pointing out that his faction adhered to the procedural steps of conducting party congresses.
According to him, the registration exercise for members was conducted transparently, and only one of the two existing registers was officially authenticated by the PDP national leadership.
This register, he claimed, was used during the ward congress that produced the delegates for the local government congresses, which in turn selected the delegates for the state congress.
Ogundele stated, “We just had the state congress, and it went so well. I emerged as the Chairman of the PDP for my second term in office.
“It was supervised by the national [leadership].
“ However, we have a divided house at the national level. A group of people from the national leadership came to supervise our congress, while another group went to the other faction.”
He acknowledged the ongoing court case over the PDP leadership in the state, stating that only the court can confirm the legitimate outcome of the congress.
“The case is in court now, and the court would be the best place to confirm the authentic and genuine Congress,” he said.
Ogundele downplayed the tensions within the party, describing the situation as a typical political conflict.
“In a political party that is democratic in nature, we are bound to have issues. We thank God we have not had any issues of violence or the use of guns and cutlasses.
“We still see it as an in-house crisis, and it is political,” he added.
He expressed confidence that the party’s internal mechanisms would eventually resolve the disagreement.
The PDP chairman did not mince words when addressing Ladi Adebutu, the former lawmaker and gubernatorial hopeful, and his supporters.
Ogundele accused Adebutu of parading paid loyalists in an effort to bolster his gubernatorial ambitions, which Ogundele believes are doomed from the start.
“Those people you see with Ladi Adebutu are paid loyalists. To a very reasonable person, how can an Ijebu person be clamoring to run for governorship again?
“ Dapo Abiodun, the current governor, is from Remo. You cannot expect another Remo person to come out and expect people to vote for him,” Ogundele argued.
He explained that Ogun State’s political arrangement is rotational, moving from Remo to Ijebu, Egba, and Yewa.
Ogundele said Adebutu’s ambition contradicts this arrangement and is unlikely to gain traction within the party or the state.
“A principled Remo person will not vote for another Remo candidate, let alone the people of Yewa and Egba,” Ogundele declared, labeling Adebutu’s governorship ambition as “dead on arrival.”
Ogundele emphasized that the crowd of supporters at his faction’s congress were the genuine PDP members, in contrast to those backing Adebutu, whom he dismissed as opportunists.
“The mammoth crowd you see here are the genuine PDP members,” he concluded.
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