The quest for the leadership of Nigeria in 2015 has commenced and considering the large crowd of Nigerians at the Eagle Square in Abuja last weekend, it became clearer to the PDP that it is no longer business as usual and they have to do more if they must make any appreciable impact against APC.
Consequently, strong indications have emerged that President Goodluck Jonathan and PDP are wooing some group of politicians who are not getting what they want in the APC, such as Chief Olusegun Osoba and Alhaji Alimodu Sheriff, the alleged Boko Haram creator in Borno State.
A member of the PDP National Working Committee, who pleaded anonymity because he was not permitted by the party to speak on the issue, confirmed the secret moves by the Presidency:
“I can tell you that the Presidency and the PDP have been reaching out to the former governor and his group. We believe that Osoba is strong politically and he will add value to our party. We need him and his group to win Ogun and neutralise Obasanjo’s influence.”
According to Punch, since the crisis in Ogun State’s APC remained intractable, the Presidency and the PDP had intensified efforts to convince Osoba’s group to dump APC and defect to the PDP.
It was gathered that the calculation of the PDP was that the defection of the former governor and his supporters would shore up Jonathan’s chances in the 2015 presidential election in the state.
The crisis in Ogun APC worsened on Friday when Osoba, the state Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun, who is a political godson of the former governor, and all members of the National Assembly from the state, boycotted the APC national convention in Abuja.
Osoba’s group had disagreed with the state Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, over the conduct of the congress of the party in the state. Osoba and his loyalists had, on May 29, 2014, rejected sharing of party offices with Amosun’s faction of the APC.
The ex-governor hinted at the possibility of leading his supporters out of the APC. Addressing his supporters, he said, “As I stand before you, I swear before God and Jesus Christ, my Lord, I promise you all that the issue of forgiveness is no more. If you stand firmly as a warrior, that is enough for me; if you are ready, there is no more room for reconciliation. If thousands of people prostrate; it is what you want that I will do; it is what you say that I will say; I will stand where you stand; I want to appeal to you, don’t be distracted.”
But when contacted, the Senator representing Ogun East, Adegbenga Kaka, said, “For now, I can only speak for myself. I am sure we (in the Osoba faction) will meet, harmonise our position and make it known at the appropriate time.”
Also, sources in Abuja told isaiahakomor.blogspot.com that Senator Sheriff is already in contact with the Presidency and the PDP, and it is only a matter of time before he joins the PDP as the APC is not comfortable with him.
The Chairman of the PDP in Ogun State, Chief Bayo Dayo, confirmed that the party was discussing with the APC group led by Osoba. He stated, “Negotiations are always going on in all political parties. It was going on in the APC when our people were defecting to them. We have their people defecting to our party in a very large scale now.”
But in its reaction, the state spokesman for the APC, Mr. Sola Lawal, said: “The claim of defection only exists in the foggy imagination of the PDP in Ogun State. Available statistics has it that membership strength of the PDP in Ogun State stands at 13,638.
“If 50,000 former members of another party join them, it simply means their rank has been invaded or they have been overrun. To maintain a modicum of sanity in the face of heightened popularity of Amosun’s APC, the PDP can only romanticise delusionary mental acrobatics.”
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