Professor Soji Adejumo was the immediate past chairman of the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). He speaks with Assistant Editor, Dapo Falade, on the crisis within the Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the obstacles stalling the attempts at reconciliation, among other issues.IT has been a while after your party, PDP, lost out in the last general election in the state. What is happening' Since we lost out, we had a period of what I will describe as total confusion; we were shell-shocked and we needed to do some soul- searching; we needed to do some reconciliation, planning and move forward. We have gone through all those phases, but unfortunately, we are back in the trenches. Talking about the crisis within the party, several efforts have been made to bring together all the factions in the party as a way forward. What is really the problem' I will not deceive you; the problem within the party today has to do with the short-sightedness of some of its leaders, particularly people like Senator Teslim Folarin, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, Senator Lekan Balogun and Alhaji Azeem Gbolarumi. Because they are so myopic, they are not able to move away from the rot and the mess they created in the first instance, which some of us are prepared to bend over backward and re-align them into the mainstream. Today, it is that Senator Rashidi Ladoja is back in PDP, tomorrow it will be another story. What is the true situation' You see, the reconciliation must be wholesome, must be totally embracing and it must incorporate everyone. We felt let those who want to willingly come back into the party show their hands, then we start from the known to the unknown. At that particular time, it was only Folarin, Senator Balogun and Gbolarumi who showed what I will put in quote 'their apparent remorse' for the anti-party activities they committed. I was part of that process; I practically spearheaded the return of Folarin and Senator Balogun back into the PDP- it started from my sitting room. This was where I brought all the PDP chairmen in Ibadanland to come and meet with them and where they made effort to appeal to them to explain their actions and that was we appealed to those party members why to accept them back because we felt they have shown sufficient remorse. After that, we moved to another level. Now the case of Alhaji Adeojo is even very appalling because we made several efforts to appeal to him to come back into the PDP. He was unwilling to come back because he has a daughter, Kafayat, in the government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi. So, he felt he had a moral burden and he felt it would be difficult for him to explain that he has a daughter who will be leaving his house every morning to go and serve a government the PDP is opposed to.How does he explain that to the PDP where he is a stakeholder.As a matter of fact, he was a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT). He said he was going to keep away; he said he is not going to be involved in politics again, not because he did not like politics, but because he couldn't answer that question his mind was asking him. In trying to be a good elderstatesman, former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to stoop low for people like Adeojo and pleaded with him to come to the party. We felt, okay if he is coming back, how about his daughter in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government. But we again felt, let him come back and we take up the matter from there, afterall people like Folarin, Gbolarumi have also come in. At that point, we felt the only bridge that is needed now and which needed to be tackled from a higher level was Senator Rashidi Ladoja because his case was unlike that of other members of the PDP who stayed in the party and committed anti-party activities. Senator Ladoja actually left the PDP and he established his own party-he did not even left to join another party, using their resources-he went to Accord Party and the result is there for all of us to witness where he swept about 70 per cent of the votes in Ibadanland. So, Ladoja proved his worth, he proved his seriousness and he proved his weight. So, he knew that it is more than just going to his house to say, Senator, please come back to the PDP. He is the one to come to PDP and say, 'look, let's draw terms of accommodation. I am coming from a position of strength.' Senator Folarin and others are not coming from any position of strength. They destroyed the party; the votes that could have come to the PDP went to the ACN. They cannot go to the ACN now and say, 'deduct the PDP votes that you accumulated from us; we want to show them to our own people.' But Senator Ladoja can point to the votes of the Accord Party; valid votes that are recorded and can use it as a basis to negotiate his re-entry into the PDP. But the grievance of some of your colleagues is that Senator Ladoja wants to come back, using PDP as a pawn' He is not using PDP as a pawn; if he wants to use the party as a game, at 69, going to 70 years, he would not sit down in the house of Chief Richard Akinjide to draw up some terms of reference for negotiation. He is in position of strength; what he is saying is that, 'I am coming back, but you must recognise the fact that I have delivered votes to some people; I have been able to send some people into the state House of Assembly. So if we are to talk, let's negotiate the process so that my people are not short-changed.' What process did Folarin, Adeojo, Senator Balogun and Gbolarumi want to negotiate' What is the score card they have to put on ground to negotiate with' A meeting was held in former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala's Ibadan residence recently. What are the decisions taken there' Senator Lekan Balogun should hide his head in shame. Why I am saying this is that the meeting was not convened by him but by Senator Ladoja. But he was picked to be the host. Former Governors Alao-Akala and Ladoja, who are the two key players in PDP in the state, collectively agreed to go and hold the meeting at Lekan Balogun's house but he locked his doors against them after agreeing to host that meeting. The meeting felt that if they are not ready to tow the path of peace, then the process should exclude them and they would have to catch up with it. Nobody alienated them; they alienated themselves. They were invited. People who were not invited and attended were still excluded from the meeting. They were specifically invited but they felt they were too big to attend. We will see the extent their strength can carry them to on their own. What is the hope for true reconciliation in the party' True reconciliation can only manifest when people with myopic and pedestrian interests do realise that you put the party first. These people who boycotted the meeting felt they have hijacked the party. You cannot hijack the party; what they have is empty. They also felt that since they have hijacked the party, they can manipulate its primaries and become its governorship candidate and then go back to the people to apologise and ask for their votes. With all these divisive tendencies, what are the chances of the party should an election take place in the state today' The chances are very slim because of the rubbish these people are doing. They have not built this party and my belief is that Teslim Folarin, Lekan Balogun, Azeem Gbolarumi and Alhaji Yekini Adeojo are practically working for the ACN with their children, relations and aides being part of the present government. May be there is a pact between Senator Ajimobi and them to destroy the PDP and weaken it and then compensate them.
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