Six aspirants are to battle for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State in the primary election scheduled to hold tomorrow.
Senator Adeleke beat the Chairman of Mutual Benefits Assurance PLC, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, in 2018 to get the party’s ticket and since then, PDP has been battling with crises.
The Chairman of the party, Soji Adagunodo, was removed and replaced with Sunday Bisi by the national secretariat of the party, after which cases were filed in court over the issue.
Adagunodo was accused of maladministration, anti-party activities, among others by the disciplinary committee. It was learnt by The Nation that his removal was caused by his loyalty to Osun State former Governor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
There have been several court orders and counter-rulings as to who is the authentic chairman of the party despite that Adagunodo was elevated to be the new Southwest zonal chairman, replacing Taofeek Arapaja.
The party on February 23 elected 996 delegates for the primary election. The exercise was marred by violence, as two people were killed and a vehicle was torched.
The primary election will take place in the 332 wards of Osun State and members will elect three people in each of the wards.
However, an Osun State High Court sitting in Ijebu-Ijesa presided over by Justice A. Aderibigbe has given nod to the eligibility of 215 ward executives loyal to the faction of former chairman and deputy national chairman, Southwest, Adagunodo, to participate in the primary.
The motion exparte was filed by Edmund Biriomoni on behalf of 31 ward chairmen from 25 local governments elected at the September 25, 2021 ward congress supervised by Adagunodo against the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Osun PDP Director of Media and Publicity, Oladele Oluwabamiji, speaking with The Nation, said despite the court order, the primary would hold tomorrow and the national secretariat would decide on the delegates’ list.
Six aspirants, including Senator Ademola Adeleke, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, Dotun Babayemi, Fatai Akinbade, Dele Adeleke (Senator Ademola’s cousin) and Sanya Omirin are battling for the party’s ticket.