Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
By Sheriff Balogun
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Monday disclosed that he had no misunderstanding with any member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the unending crisis rocking the state chapter of the party.
According to him: “I have no grudge against anybody provided they adhere strictly to the constitution of the party.”
Obasanjo said he resigned his Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship to concentrate on international issues, particularly attracting business opportunities to Africa in general and Nigerian in particular in view of the happenings in Europe and America.
Speaking in an address during the stakeholders’ meeting held at his hilltop mansion at the weekend, the former president said the task ahead of the party was a great one, urging members to brace-up to the challenge.
According to a release signed by the publicity secretary of the party in the state, Bidemi Osunbiyi, Obasanjo implored the party executive to open its doors to everybody no matter their antecedents.
The state party chairman, Senator Dipo Odunjirin, advised the aggrieved members of the party to visit the reconciliation committee which, according to the statement has started sitting in Abeokuta.
Odunjinrin hinted that the party’s structures have been set up in line with the constitution of the party, from the ward to the state level.
In another development, the state chapter of the PDP also denied a group called PDP Progressive, adding that such group was not known to party in the state.
The party was reacting to a meeting of some defectors accusing the party of exclusion during the recent congress which ushered in the present executive in the state.
According to the statement credited to Bidemi Osunbiyi, majority of those who claimed to be members of the group were defectors who are yet to revalidate their membership of PDP as directed by the national secretariat of the party.
Osunbiyi explained that the father of the former Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Chief Alani Bankole, who had in different fora disowned the party was carried along during the congress for peace to reign in the state.
Osunbiyi further said that Chief Mrs Iyabo Apampa and former loyalists of the former Governor Gbenga Daniel were still with the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) while others are with Labour Party, adding that ‘they are defectors who feel too big to obey party rules of going back to their wards to revalidate their membership.’