Ibadan – A PDP chieftain in Ogun state, Asiwaju Bankole Akinloye Olasunkanmi has called on the leadership of the party to listen to all sides of the factions and right the wrongs within the party.
Speaking on Petals FM’s Morning show The News Men with Adebisi Ogunjimi, Bankole, who is the Publicity Secretary of Ogun PDP said the call for the complete overhaul of the People’s Democratic Party PDP by Otunba Segun Sowunmi was not out of place adding that there was no crisis within the party.
‘If you look at the party very well in Ogun state, every member of the party, the leaders, the party executives all of us operate unanimously under the chairmanship of Alhaji Sikirulahi Ogundele.
In Ogun state, we have 20 local governments and 236 political wards, there is no ward or local government that has a parallel party structure, and everybody operates under the chairmanship of Alhaji Sikirulahi Ogundele’, Akinloye said.
‘The little issue we have here is a disagreement and I have always told whoever cares to listen, it is like using a typical example of the popular Dugbe market in Ibadan, all the traders in Dugbe market do not come to the market the same time, some will arrive around 4 am, some may not come maybe till 6 am and some will not even come at all until 4 pm but the most important thing is that all of them will still ply their trade in that market that same day and they will go back home happily with whatever they’ve been able to make out of the day. That is exactly what we have in Ogun state. We don’t have any crisis, we don’t have any parallel structure. In Ogun state everybody operates under the chairmanship of Alhaji Sikirulahi Ogundele’ he noted.
‘If a person of the caliber of our leader Otunba Segun Sowumi holds a personal view that the party is not stable enough, I think it is a good one perhaps as a party man I Know Segun Sowumi to be a renowned party person, a devoted, very committed and loyal party person. Since the formation of the party, he has not moved out of the party and he always wants the very best for the party both at the national level and the state level’.
Speaking on the seat of the National Chairmanship position of the party, Asiwaju Bankole who is the Ogun State PDP Publicity secretary says there are no issues with the seat of the National Chairman, as the north central will be allowed to complete the tenure of the former chairman Iyocha Ayu which ends in November 2025.
‘What I will just imply is that the national leadership of the party should also as much as possible look into his request and possibly find a way of addressing the issue.
Segun Sowumi has expressed his opinion, and with that, I’m very confident and very sure that he is not doing anything to undermine the integrity of the party. He is also looking for how to promote the well-being of the party, to make the party very stable, and to reposition it. That is the way I see it honestly and I also say that Segun Sowumi should be commended for holding that very strong view because at the end of the day, it’s going to be for the betterment of the party and its general well-being.
According to Bankole, reconciliation processes are ongoing to rightly position the party ahead of the 2027 General elections.
‘The People’s Democratic Party is a well democratic political organization with all the full party structures put in place, party organs are in place and I’m very sure we don’t have any issue concerning the question of our national chairmanship. During the last election, the national chairman was elected from Benue state, which is the North-Central political zone of the Federation, he was unable to complete his four-year term and is no longer in office.
Now, the deputy national chairman is in place as the acting chairman of the party in the person of Ambassador Damangun, so what the guideline and the constitution of the party say is that the north central where the last chairman came from will be allowed to complete it’s term and that is why the party by August 15 when the NEC will resume, it is expected that the North-Central political region should produce nomination that will complete the term of Iyocha Ayu and I think that will also be coming from Benue state. There is no issue about that.
After Nov 2025, we will reconvene to re-elect another national chairman’, Bankole concluded.
Earlier, an Ibadan-based renowned journalist, Henry Odeh said the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party PDP is not playing the role of the opposition as it should because it is yet to come out of its shell after losing the seat of power to the APC.
Odeh who is the Publisher of westernmirror.com.ng said the job of the opposition is not to be an antagonist but to be a watchdog. He highlighted that since the emergence of the Ruling All Progressives Party into power in 2015, the Main Opposition party PDP has not lived up to the role of being the opposition.
Odeh, while speaking on the leadership crisis bedeviling the party, expressed his worries regarding the preparedness of the PDP ahead of the 2027 General elections.
