A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Alhaji Adebisi Olopoenia, in this interview with NURUDEEN ALIMI, speaks on the reasons he feels the state chapter of the party needs to be overhauled and situates the decision of a former governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, to join the All Progressives Party (APC). As a chieftain of the PDP in Oyo State and a close ally of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, what is your reaction to his plan to defect from the Labour Party to the APC rather than come back to his former party, the PDP?
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In my view, Alao-Akala has made the right decision, at least, at this time when those that were responsible for the failure of our party during the last general election in the state are still in charge. As a matter of fact, the party, at the moment, is in disarray. I have said many times that that unless the people that destroyed the party are shown the door as soon as possible, the party will continue to lose chunks of its members. I believe Alao-Akala has chosen the APC over the PDP because of people that have refused to step aside after failing woefully during the last election. Those people are still interested in continuing to run the affairs of the party and I think no right-thinking politician would want to associate with such people. Therefore, Akala’s decision to shun the PDP at this point is laudable. Alao-Akala’s exit was big blow to the party in the state, in the first instance.
As a stakeholder, have you ever taken steps to put things right within the party?
Immediately after the general election in April, I initiated what is called Reformed PDP, which was aimed at restructuring the party and probably bring back those that have left the party due to one reason or the other. But we were being sabotaged by elements that have never put the interest of the party before theirs. For instance, when the national conference of the party was held in Abuja, the invitation cards sent to Oyo State by the leadership of the party was hoarded and distributed among a few members of the party. That was the reason no prominent member of the party was present at the conference except these elements. Senator Ayo Adeseun, Chief Jumoke Akinjide, Senator Lekan Balogun, Femi Babalola, Professor Soji Adejumo, Azeem Gbolarumi and a host of others were not present at the conference.
What do you think is the way forward for the party in the state?
As far as I am concerned, the first thing is to dissolve the present executive committee before a fresh congress is conducted. If the exco is not dissolved, I can assure you that there will be exodus before and after the congress. At different times, we wrote letters asking the national secretariat to come here and dissolve the exco from ward to state levels. At a point, we initiated a move for harmonisation but how do you harmonise without removing some and putting others as substitutes? The truth is that the people who make things happen in the party are tired of the activities of this exco and they are ready to leave if the leadership of the party at the national level does not do the needful at the appropriate time, which is now.
You keep hammering the dissolution of the present exco of the party in the state, is there more to it than meets the eye?
Yes, they have not done well at all since they have been saddled with the responsibility of administering the party. I challenge any member of the exco to produce the result sheets from their polling unit, ward and local government and be assessed by that. None of them won in their polling units, let alone their wards and local governments. They all failed woefully, so, I see no reason a team that has failed should still be kept to function.
The most painful part of the situation is that those in charge of the affairs of the party in the state now were not elected. They were actually handpicked. The current chairman never nursed the idea of becoming the chairman. He only came to the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, venue of the congress, and was selected as the chairman, likewise some other members of the executive committee. If the national leadership of the PDP does not act fast and all reasonable members of the party leave, then the party will be left with the person who is being acclaimed as the leader of the party in the state and his cohorts who, to the best of my knowledge, have no electoral value.
Why are you clamouring for the return of some members of the party who have left like Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Seyi Makinde and Alao-Akala?
Because they have electoral value and can take the party to greater heights. Senator Ladoja formed Accord Party because of what happened in the PDP in 2011 and that was the reason some PDP members see Accord as an option. As a matter of fact, I do not think Senator Ladoja can come back to the party. I do not need a soothsayer to tell me whether the former governor will return to the PDP to be paying obeisance to certain people. Alao-Akala, as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, performed creditably during the last election. Despite losing out in the election, he garnered a considerable number of votes. Aside from that, his party produced five members of the state House of Assembly and a member of the House of Representatives. So, what can you say about such a person? Will you say with such results, he has not performed well as a political leader?
Also, Seyi Makinde only joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) shortly before the last general election, yet, the PDP was ahead of him in the poll by just 10,000. But let it be on record that he defeated the PDP in all the 11 local governments in Ibadan. Imagine what the situation would have been if he had been in the party for a long time. It would have been a different story entirely. So, if these people do not return to the PDP, I can assure you that between now and next year, when the ward congress will be held, there will be exodus from the party in Oyo State.
