PDP Chair: South-west Caucus Endorses George, Adeniran, Adedoja
Ex-Governor Daniel dismisses move
The South West Board of Trustees caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has narrowed down the number of its preferred chairmanship aspirants from the Zone to three.
The aspirants shortlisted are former Deputy National Chairman of the party and ex- Military Governor of the old Ondo State, Chief Olabode George; one-time Sports and Special Duties Minister and former Provost of the Federal College of Education, (Special) Oyo, Professor Taoheed Adedoja; and former Education Minister, Professor Tunde Adeniran, who was Nigerian Ambassador to Germany.
The caucus pledged to go a step further to pick one of the three aspirant as a consensus candidate for the office.
The endorsement of the three chairmanship aspirants was contained in a document signed by a former Deputy National Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Shuibu Oyedokun, dated November 3.
According to the document, the Caucus picked Chief George to represent Ogun - Lagos axis, Prof. Adedoja from Osun - Oyo axis and Prof. Tunde Adeniran from Ekiti and Ondo axis respectively.
The caucus said that its action was based on the numerous calls and wise counsel from several quarters to prune down the number of contestants to a manageable number.
However, former governor of Ogun state, Gbenga Daniel, has asked his supporters to disregard the endorsement by the group, describing it as personal opinion of the author.
In a statement issued late Saturday night, by the Media Consultant to the Otunba Gbenga Daniel Campaign Organisation, Steve Oliyide, the former governor said he was still a top contender for the PDP chairmanship race.
"Our attention has been drawn to a document endorsing 3 aspirants for the PDP national chairmanship race, without OGD, purportedly signed by Chief Oyedokun on behalf of the SW caucus of the BOT of our party ahead of the Dec. 9 national convention.
"Our teaming supporters should kindly disregard such documents which can best be described as the personal opinion of the writer and it’s clearly not well thought out, if at all such a document is authenticated.
"For the avoidance of doubt, Otunba Gbenga Daniel is currently on a nationwide tour of all the 36 states chapters of our party consulting with leaders and potential delegates, preaching the gospel of internal democracy and retuning the party to the people at the grassroots," he said.
The caucus however said that its position was without prejudice to the right of any contestant outside the recommended list to contest.
It also said it was also without prejudice to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the provisions of the constitution of the party.
The South-west BoT members of the caucus said the move would improve the chances of the zone to clinch the chairmanship of the party at the convention.
They said that their aim was also to reduce tension, rancour and friction that may rise before, during and after the convention among the winner and other contestants.
"Assist the voting process on the election day, reduce expenditure for nonrecommended contestants; present manageable list of contestants from the South-west to compete favourably with any other contestant (s) from any other zone (s) from the South; and to avoid splitting of votes among contestants from the South-west and to provide soft landing for non-recommended aspirants.
The caucus said, "in the over all interest of the party and after wide and due consultations, we have been taking cognizance of various factors such as experience, acceptability across Nigeria, educational exposure, vision, public perception, international visibility, wining chances, party standing nation wide, members perception and expectations"