Odeyemi: Blackmail Game Against Saraki, Others Won’t Help Osun PDP

Prince Diran Odeyemi in this piece responds to issues raised by a member of the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP concerning the peace process in the state as they pertain to the immediate past president of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki

1. My attention has been drawn to a statement issued by one Apesin-Abiodun Adegoke who claims to be from Modakeke in Ife East Area Office in which he made many libelous, mischievous, and false claims, particularly directed at the chairman of the committee, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki who was also President of the Senate between 2015 to 2019.

2. As a major stakeholder in the party, I am obliged to respond to this write-up because the writer made several untrue statements concerning the party, some key leaders, and insinuated things that only exist in his imagination as well as that of his sponsors.

3. I believe that the entire write up is a dubious attempt to mislead the public and blackmail Dr. Saraki as well as the new leadership of the PDP under Dr. Iyorchia Ayu into taking premeditated decisions that will favour a group in the Osun State PDP crisis, on whose behalf the writer did the hatchet job.

4. It should be noted that every genuine member of the PDP knows that Dr. Saraki is a quintessential, committed, loyal, and trusted party man. His antecedents, the tasks he has undertaken on behalf of the party (assigned and voluntarily assumed), and the contributions he has made to the party have shown that he is a genuine leader whose devotion, motivation, and interest are unquestionable by all reasonable members of the party.

5. From my knowledge, the National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee (NRSC) met the Osun State stakeholders on March 15, 2021, in Abuja as it did to most of the other states where the party had a crisis. From the commencement of the meeting, Dr. Saraki declared his closeness to the Adeleke family, particularly revealing that two of the members of the family (late Isiaka and Ademola) had been his colleagues in the Senate. He however made it clear that the fact will not prevent him from saying the truth and ensuring justice, equity, and fairness determined the outcome of the deliberations. After his statement, nobody raised any objection to his presiding over the meeting. Many of the stakeholders across the board praised and commended his objectivity and full disclosure.

6. I know very well that as a result of the reconciliation efforts in other states and later developments leading to the emergence of the new party leadership, the final report of the NRSC has not been submitted to the new NWC headed by our respected leader, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu. Therefore, the committee as a body, its chairman, Dr. Saraki as a person, and other members could not be accused of playing any role in whatever decision the party leadership has taken, is contemplating, or may take on the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Osun State.

7. From his antecedents, Dr. Saraki has never been accused of meddling in state party affairs in any state. The tendentious press statement by the so-called Apesin-Abiodun Adegoke is capable of making genuine party leaders refrain from helping the party to resolve problems in other zones and states. This is a move aimed at making all and sundry abandon Osun PDP to its ill fortune while the party continues to be bedeviled by self-inflicted and unnecessary internal division.

8. Surprisingly, the writer and his sponsors were jumbling issues, dates, events, and personalities to score cheap points and make its falsehood look good and believable. For example, while the Ojude Oba festival in 2018 was held on August 23, 2018, the PDP held its presidential primaries on October 6 and 7, 2018. This means by the Ojude Oba Day which Saraki attended as the Special Guest of Honour, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had not emerged as a PDP candidate and therefore Saraki had not become the Director-General of the presidential campaign organisation. This puts a lie to the claim that Saraki as DG campaign kept Osun people waiting while he attended the Ojude Oba festival. There was no scheduled plan for him to visit Osun during that Sallah period. It must be fool-hardy for this purveyor of falsehood to enact that unreasonable scenario of Saraki shunning a visit to Osun as Atiku’s DG during the Sallah period.

9. There are more lies by the author of that press statement. Dr. Saraki volunteered on his own to help his party win the Governorship elections in 2018 and I can say it without any fear of contradiction that there was no other PDP member outside Osun State who did as much as the former Senate President to help Osun State win the elections. When the manipulators got the election results declared inconclusive, Saraki on his own volition approached Chief Iyiola Omisore on September 24, 2018, three days to the re-run elections to help the PDP win the elections, particularly in the wards in Ile Ife areas. The meeting with Omisore was held in the presence of so many leaders and even aides. No secret meeting or secret agreement which Saraki could have breached was arrived at. It was just a visit to appeal to and appease the former Deputy Governor to support his party. The following day after Saraki’s visit, the APC team led by its then national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and four serving governors also visited the former Senator. It was obvious Omisore went with the ruling party with the better promises they made to him. So, which liar from hell is now claiming Omisore did not support PDP because Dr. Saraki or any PDP member broke promises to him. Which promise? At what time before the re-run election was any promise made and broken? Liars do not care about facts. They just want to muddle up the water.

10. From my experience as a former party spokesperson, I know no National Legal Adviser of the party can on his file suit or take decisions without the consent of the national chairman and other NWC members. Dr. Iyorchia Ayu that we all know is not somebody that can be dictated to by any NWC members or external influence. So, all these claims against the National Legal Adviser and Dr. Ayu are mere fabrications by unGodly people.

11. As a stakeholder in Osun State, it should be clear to all of us that this game of blackmail, intimidation, muck-raking, mud-splashing, and peddling of bare-faced lies cannot help our party. The 2022 gubernatorial election in this state is there for PDP to win. It is also easy for PDP to lose it due to unreasonable actions of its leaders and members like the one under consideration.

12. None of the various groups can win this election alone. We have all been in the opposition in the last 12 years. With some sensible actions, unity of purpose, a ‘give and take’ but positive attitude, and strategic planning, we can win the elections and go-ahead to provide good governance for our people. However, if we choose the path of self-destructing like the one represented in the press statement by the so-called Apesin-Abiodun Adegoke, we will all continue to enjoy the benefit of in-fighting under the opposition umbrella.

Signed

Prince Diran Odeyemi

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary

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