• SDP governorship aspirant denies ex-senator’s defection
Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo with agency report
A former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Omisore, who announced his defection in a statement made available to journalists in Osogbo yesterday, said he intended to contest the September 22 governorship election on the platform of SDP.
He said his mission was to rescue the state from what he described as years of misrule.
According to him, the PDP in Osun is in disarray and likely to remain in prolonged political captivity over the next four years.
The statement, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), read: “engaging and working with like-minded leadership, we have sought for an alternative platform that will assures both credible and legitimacy that will rescue Osun State from its current reckless misrule.
“Our quest for an alternative political platform is basically in pursuit of a credible political structure that would guarantee that our people enjoy the benefits of accountable leadership at the state level from now.
“Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the past years or so to building the PDP, after very deep thought and the widest consultations with my God, my family, my supporters in and outside Osun State,
“It is with great concern that I have made a very expedient decision today, to withdraw my membership from the PDP and join the SDP; a party that believed in a balanced, equitable and truly functional Nigeria.
“On the platform of the SDP, I shall with the support of my supporters, followers, and the electorate of the state, seek the nomination to contest for, and by His grace, be elected as the Governor of Osun State on September 22, 2018.â€
Omisore was Osun Deputy Governor on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) between 1999 and 2003.
He was also elected to the Senate on the platform of PDP in 2003 to represent Osun East senatorial district.
However, the SDP has disclaimed the senator, saying he is not a governorship aspirant on the platform of the party.
According to the spokesman of the party in the state, Otunba Kola Oladimeji at the weekend, he said Omisore is not yet a member of the party, let alone, be its governorship candidate.
In a statement he personally signed, copies of which were obtained by journalists during the weekend, he said the fear of governorship primaries that forced Omisore out of PDP, awaits him in SDP, stressing that no one will handover the party’s gubernatorial ticket to him, without going through the rigorous primary processes instituted by the party platform.
Yemisi Oladeji also cautioned Omisore’s supporters against the ‘false belief’ that their candidate possesses the clout that can win election on any platform, reminding them of the apparent error inherent in that illusion since even on the platform of PDP, when the party controlled federal government, Omisore still lost the 2014 Osun governorship election to the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.
Oladeji categorically stated that until Omisore is able to legitimately perfect his membership, he remain “just a friend of SDP,†insisting that records at his disposal have not shown that the former federal lawmaker is yet a member of SDP.
