- It’s all gang-up against him – PDP chieftain
As the Osun State governorship election scheduled for August 2018 draws nearer, a close ally and former spokesperson of a former deputy governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party in the state will “lose woefully” if it presents the ex-lawmaker at the polls.
Prince Diran Odeyemi, who is now a governorship aspirant on the opposition party’s platform, warned the PDP not to take the risk of presenting Omisore as its standard bearer in the 2018 race in the state.
He said that Omisore was no longer marketable for the PDP to win the governorship poll in the state.
Omisore’s name cannot win any election for PDP
Odeyemi, a member of the board of a radio station owned by Omisore, argued that the candidature of the former deputy governor would spell doom for the PDP in its quest to reclaim Osun in 2018 because of the controversies usually stirred by his name in the politics of the state.
Odeyemi noted that although Omisore had the constitutional and legitimate rights to contest the election, he insisted that his former principal would not be a credible candidate for the major opposition party in the state if it was serious about winning at the governorship poll.
While noting that the alleged controversial nature of Omisore had nothing to do with the death of the former minister of justice, Chief Bola Ige or his case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Odeyemi said it would be better for the former deputy governor to forget his ambition and rather be contented with serving as a godfather in the PDP in the state.
Odeyemi, who spoke on Thursday in Osogbo, further claimed that the relationship between himself and Omisore remained cordial, but insisted that the former deputy governor could never govern the state.
He disclosed that he had met with Omisore and told him to drop his ambition but the former deputy governor insisted and told him that he would contest and win the governorship in 2018, notwithstanding the conspiracy against him.
The PDP governorship aspirant wondered why Omisore, who he said had unsuccessfully made various attempts to govern the state since 1995, had not dropped his ambition having consistently failed.
Odeyemi, therefore, advised his former boss to vacate the political space in the state and allow fresh and younger candidates that would usher the party to victory in the 2018 poll.
He said, “There is no gainsaying the fact that Senator Iyiola Omisore has the constitutional and legitimate right to contest election in Osun, but morally speaking, I believe it’s now time to choose somebody else. He (Omisore) should now be an elder statesman. He should handpick candidates and sponsor them like Tinubu did with the vice president and not contesting. I am a close ally to Omisore. My candid advice for him is to forget about governorship. He is too controversial. Not because of the Bola Ige or EFCC issue, but the reality of it is that he is not acceptable.
“In 2014 when we had the power, Federal backing, money and everything to win, he lost to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Otunba Iyiola Omisore’s name is too controversial in Osun politics. His name cannot win any election for the PDP. I think what he should just do is to quit the race and become an elder statesman. He should come out and bring forth a candidate that will be sellable. If he supports someone from the Osun West Senatorial District, the people of the state will vote for PDP.
