The meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the South-West in Abeokuta, Ogun State, was to count the party's losses in the last general election as opposed to the Action Congress Of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress For Progressive Change (CPC) which have been celebrating success.In the 1999 general election, the six states of the South-West were won by the Alliance For Democracy (AD). However, fortunes smiled on the PDP in the 2003 general election as it dislodged AD in the five out of the six states, namely Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun and Osun.For almost eight years, the party ruled like colossus in these states. Unfortunately the party couldn't manage the success well due to internal wrangling that ensued between its leaders.The hurricane which was to sweep PDP out of South-West in 2011 general election was ignited in 2006 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his resolve to use Nuhu Ribadu-led Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to harass and impeach some governors he (Obasanjo) perceived to be his political enemies.He started with Rashidi Ladoja, the then Oyo State governor. Many leaders in the South-West appealed to Obasanjo not to remove Ladoja, but he would not listen. The same Obasanjo who during his first term had no PDP governor in the South-West started behaving like a lord of the manor by waging war against anybody who was opposed to his third term ambition.As if Obasanjo was drunk, he later moved to Ekiti State and colluded with the opposition to remove Ayodele Fayose. The former president did not only destroy PDP in Ekiti, he also did likewise in Oyo, Osun and Ogun, by supporting one faction against the other, leading to PDP loosing the five states to ACN and Labour Party (LP).One had expected Obasanjo by now to admit being responsible for PDP's abysmal performance in South West in the last election. Rather,the former president and Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, South-West chairman of the party at the Abeokuta meeting, continued to disparage certain leaders of the party.While Alhaji Oladipupo chose Fayose and Gbenga Daniel, former Ogun State governor to tongue-lash, Obasanjo said he would not like to be in the same party with them. Unfortunately, the people at the meeting could not tell the Ota farmer that it was he who should quit PDP for the party to bounce back.However, the truth has been told Obasanjo by the party's national chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje idiomatically, that he could leave if he was not prepare to be in PDP with the two former governors. That is to say, PDP is not OBJ Limited. Baraje had said that Fayose and Daniel were free to return to the party as long as they satisfied the stipulated criteria for entry.Interestingly, Fayose, on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 bowed to pressure from his numerous supporters demanding his return to the party. If Alhaji Oladipo had called Fayose and Daniel the architects of the fall of PDP in their respective states, then they should be given kudos for single-handedly bringing the party down.There were too many generals in Ogun PDP that contributed to the loss of the state to ACN such as Dimeji Bankole, Jubril Martins- Kuye, Joju Fadairo, Adetunji Olurin, Obasanjo, Titi Husseini, Tunji Egbetokun, Gbenga Daniel, among others.If Olurin had boasted of sending Gbenga Daniel to prison if he becomes the governor, don't you think it will be foolish of Gbenga Daniel and his followers to vote for Olurin' It was Obasanjo who anointed Olurin as the PDP candidate and don't forget that who pays the piper dictates the tune.In Ekiti, the people are desperate to have Fayose back in PDP because they are already licking the wounds of losing the state to ACN. Perhaps, they (leaders) have realised that with Fayose in the party, it would be impossible for the ACN to make an impact on the last rerun, let alone having the muscle to go to the tribunal. I think the hour has come for those who love PDP to tell Obasanjo to retire and allow the party to embark on a full reconciliation.Dr Alarape, a political analyst writes from Lagos.
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