A head of the September 22 governorship election in Osun State, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Barrister Kehinde Ayanwale, has said that the recent defection of a chieftain of the party and former senator that represented Osun East, Senator Iyiola Omisore, will not affect the fortune of the party in the election.
Speaking with The Point in Abuja, Ayanwale said, “As a lawyer, I will say movement from one party to the other is allowed; it is a constitutional right.
“If Senator Omisore is tired of being a PDP member, he has the right to move to another party of his choice. Fortunately, his loyalists in PDP are still with us. They are not following him to SDP. Nobody feels his absence in PDP; but he is part of us and we know he will still come back to
PDP.”
As to which zone will produce the governorship candidate for the party, Ayanwale said the understanding of the leaders is that it is the turn of Osun West senatorial district.
He said, “We don’t need to deceive ourselves; the issue of zoning is just an understanding within the party. It is not a written law.
“However, we have an understanding that this governorship ticket is for the people of Osun west. I don’t think anything can change that.”
He also said of all the aspirants in the party, he is backing Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi ,who he described as a good and loyal party member.
Ayanwale said, “Backing a candidate is a matter of choice. As I am speaking with you, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi is the best for Osun PDP .He is a candidate one can vouch for .He is gentle, articulate, a sound administrator and a former minister. He has not been invited by any security agency for fraudulent activities. As a good party man, though he already picked PDP Senatorial ticket for Osun West in the senatorial bye-election, he stepped down for Ademola Adeleke in the party’s
interest.
“When the PDP crisis was high in this state, he stood firmly with the party. I appealed to other aspirants to also honour him by withdrawing from the race.”
On the chances of the PDP in the September 22 governorship election, Ayanwale said PDP would win the election
convincingly.
“We are not entertaining any fear. We know we need to work and we have been working. The NWC of the party is bringing a lot of innovations to make the party a good brand,” he
said.
