Osun PDP crisis’ll be over in one and a half months —Party chairman

Honourable Soji Adagunodo was elected as the state chairman of the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after a prolonged crisis. He speaks with MOSES ALAO on the situation of things in the party and the efforts being made to placate aggrieved members and ensure the victory of the party in the governorship election slated for September 22, 2018.

THERE has been serious crisis in the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for over one year following the inability to agree on the state leadership of the party. A congress was held recently. What is the situation of things now?

You know we just had our congress and we are settling down. But there you know there is primary election or congress that will take place and there won’t be people who are aggrieved. When that happens, you find a means of placating them and getting them to believe in the system that is just coming up. You have to make them know that their interest will be well-protected notwithstanding what has happened.

This is especially the case in Osun State PDP where we have this protracted crisis for about two years. We have been doing that. But I know that when ambition is involved, it is very difficult to manage people, because ambition is like drug, once it takes over one, until one gets to the end of it, one might not be easily convinced to believe that one won’t be the person to be this or that. However, we are working round that by talking those who are aggrieved. By and large, we are getting positive results.

Senator Iyiola Omisore appears to be chief among those aggrieved. How are you handling the issue?

Senator Omisore is one of our recend leaders and we are trying to talk to him that whatever might have happened, he should, as a leader, accommodate everyone and look at it that what has happened cannot stop his ambition. This thing is like a game; you win some, you lose some. And we are assuring everyone that is aggrieved that we will be fair and transparent in everything we are going to do. I am a godfearing person; I am not ready to line behind any aspirant except the one that Osun PDP people wants. So, we are talking to Senator Omisore and we will continue to do that to let him know that he should be at home with this executive. That is where we are now.

But there is a report that he burnt the PDP flag last Thursday and that he has moved to the Accord Party.

He has denied that; he said he has not moved to any party. The truth is that some people burnt the PDP flag and removed the party’s billboard at the old secretariat. But we asked whether he is moving out of the party, because some of them said they are leaving; he said he was not leaving the PDP and we want to believe him. We still want to agree with him that he is not leaving the party. If you look at it, the party has done a lot for some people in Osun State and he is one of them; so, why will he be abandoning the party that brought him to the limelight and that is why we believe him when he said he is not leaving.

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The governorship election in Osun State will come up in September 2018; do you think the grievances and crisis won’t affect the chances of the party in reclaiming the state?

I am happy that I was the chairman of the PDP in Osun State when we had the Osun West Senatorial District by-election. We had a more terrible crisis than this, because at that time, we had factions both at the national and state levels and the crisis was fierce. I was leading the PDP and we were able to reconcile less than two weeks to the by-election and we campaigned together and won the election. If we could do that in Osun West, which is the main stronghold of the APC in Osun State, I can assure you that by the special grace and the favour and mercy of God, I am now the PDP chairman in Osun. I will lead the party to contest the gubernatorial election and to win September 22 election in the state. In any case, the crisis that you see will over in the next one and a half month.

If you look at the South-West, the unity and cohesion that reigned in the PDP, which enabled it to defeat the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in virtually all elections in the region in 2003, are missing. With the way things are going in the states of the region, don’t you think they portend great dangers for the party and its ambition to dislodge the ruling APC?

Politics is management of crisis. Even in 2003 that you talked about, they had crisis only that it was not as obvious as now, because back then, we had not won elections and ruled in those states. But now, PDP had been the ruling party and so people know its worth. As we speak, the crisis we have in PDP is a child’s play compared to what is ongoing in the APC. But you don’t see it because the party is still in government; people are still eating and when you are eating, you don’t talk. That is why you have not been hearing anything. Assuming that they have left office like the PDP, you would have seen the crisis.

Let me also tell you that at times, crisis can positively impact on a party and it can also negatively impact on a party. But as I speak with you, the crisis in Osun is positively impacting on the party; the number of members of the party has grown astronomically by almost 300 to 400 per cent. If you go to any ward, you will see that the number of members has tripled just because of mobilisation. This faction is mobilising, the other faction is also doing the same. And when you see a fierce contest like the one going on in the PDP in Osun State and across the South-West, it means such party is to be watched. So, I am telling you that we are having crisis because the PDP has become a party to be watched in the South-West. The people have tried the other for the past eight years and in some instances four years and they have not been impressed and everybody believes that if you want to win election now, the only platform you can use is PDP. You know that winning an election depends on the platform; no matter how good you are, the platform will give you 50 per cent and you look for the remain percentage as a candidate. So, the platform that is much sought right now is the PDP and that is why you see people struggling, manouvring and doing all sorts of things to make sure that they are in charge of the structure of the party.