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Tag: ‘Oyo PDP

  • Oyo PDP, APC disagree on 2015 poll

    Oyo PDP, APC disagree on 2015 poll

    Former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin yesterday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will defeat Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the 2015 governorship poll.

    But the State Acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Akin Oke, described Folarin’s statement as “a joke”.

    Oke said: “On which platform is Folarin’s PDP going to defeat Ajimobi in 2015? Is it the old or new PDP? Is it on the platform of Senator Lekan Balogun, Elder Wole Oyelese, or that of the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ms Jumoke Akinjide? “

    Oke and Folarin spoke in Ibadan, the state capital.

    Folarin said he had begun consultations and the outcome would determine whether he would contest the election or not.

    He said: “There are so many people in the PDP, who are qualified to be governor, including myself. We are consulting. We have been to Oke-ogun, Oyo and we are still talking quietly. We are interested but the outcome of the consultations will determine the final decision. Without an iota of doubt, PDP will win Oyo State in 2015.”

    Oke said the crisis in Oyo PDP was worse than that of any other state.

    He said: “With the kind of problem in Oyo PDP, it will be a pipe dream for the PDP to win 20 per cent votes in the state in 2015. Folarin must be a joker. He was in the Senate for eight years with nothing to show for it.

    “When he boasted that the PDP will win Oyo in 2015, did he forget that the PDP governed the state for eight years with nothing to show for it, other than bloodshed, violence and retrogression.

    “Ajimobi’s two years in office is far better than the PDP’s eight years’ reign of terror. Let Folarin tell the world which PDP he is boasting of. Is it the new or old PDP that will defeat Ajimobi in 2015?”

    On the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Folarin said it was embarrassing for the Federal Government to sign an agreement without considering its ability to meet it.

    He said: “A whole semester lost in the life of a student is really bad. ASUU and the Federal Government must synergise and make the system work. The Nigerian system is not properly run. If you have a properly run system and rules are adhered to, you won’t have this problem.

    “A minister signed the agreement in 2009 and another one is saying ‘if I pay, the economy will go bankrupt’. It is embarrassing that the government did not look at the books before signing the agreement. Granted that the mistake has been made, the government should have talked to the lecturers before they went on strike.

    “If it had told ASUU it could only pay 60 per cent now and the rest would be paid in instalments, the strike would not have started. I urge ASUU to go back to the table for discussion.”

    Folarin told warring PDP governors to allow Nigerians determine the fate of President Goodluck Jonathan at the 2015 poll, if he emerges the party’s candidate.

  • ‘Oyo PDP lacks construction knowledge’

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State yesterday said the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “knows nothing” about construction.

    It said “this lack of knowledge” affected the state when the PDP administered its affairs.

    ACN was reacting to the PDP’s allegation that the contract for the Ibadan flyover was inflated.

    The PDP queried the gap between the Ibadan bridge, estimated at N2.5 billion and the 2.5km Lalubu-Ibara-Totoro bridge in Ogun State, which cost N1.5 billion.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN said: “We are awestruck that a political party could advertise its naivety this shamelessly. The PDP should have demanded details of the two bridges. The details would have shocked it and averted this shameless plunge that it has made.

    “The Ogun bridge is 400 metres in length, while the one being built in Oyo is 640 metres. Apart from the difference in their length, ours includes the provision of ancillary facilities to the bridge. These include the construction of roads on both sides of the bridge, rehabilitation of adjoining roads, construction of standard one-metre-by-one-metre reinforced concrete drains, beautification of the road, landscaping and street-lighting.

    “It is apparent that the PDP is too illiterate to understand that these facilities are part of the construction of an overhead bridge. In the history of the PDP’s reign in Oyo State, it never built a road of that quality.

    “It is sad that a party that claims to be in the opposition does not have a clear understanding of its role, had no details of what it wanted to criticise and was merely groping in the dark because of the limitation of its runners.

    “The other day, the Accord leader, who is also a former PDP leader, said he dreamt of building an overhead bridge! Sensing the bridge’s imposing nature and the kudos it has been attracting to the Ajimobi administration, it is lamentable that there have been several attempts by the PDP and its Accord variant to discredit it.

    “However, every attempt they have made has landed them in greater shame. They had better accept that the Ajimobi administration is far ahead of them in initiatives and the mental grasp in the art of governance.”