BY DAYO JOHNSON

A  rat race over who succeeds the outgoing Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN  as Ondo State representative in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is further tearing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apart in Ondo State.

Kayode was suspended over alleged anti-party activities and his name was omitted in the Ondo State ministerial list forwarded to the National Secretariat of the PDP by the leadership of the party in the state.

Currently, factions of the party have forwarded two lists of ministerial nominees to the party headquarters.
Names in the list prepared by the faction of the immediate past governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu include  the state Chairman, Dr Tayo Dairo, who was one of those who wrote and signed the Minister’s  suspension letter; Business Mogul Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim; National Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Olusola Oke and Senator Bode Olajumoke. Others are Special Adviser to President on Niger Delta Matters, Hon Kingsley Kuku; Former Deputy Governor, Omolade Oluwateru;, two women – Folake  Akinjoko and Febi Adeyemi; and Gbenga Elegbeleye. One of them if approved by President Goodluck Jonathan may replace Kayode in the FEC.

Those opposed to Kayode had accused him of  hobnobbing with the Labour Party (LP) to the detriment of the PDP during the last elections.

Immediately the party lost the National Assembly and the State Assembly elections, some members of the party, particularly a group known as Ondo State PDP Youth Leadership Forum blamed the defeat on Kayode.

However, Kayode is not sleeping and he may not go down without a fight. A faction of the party led by a former Finance Commissioner to the immediate past governor, Chief Tayo  Alasoadura, has pitched its tent with the embattled minister to fight the other faction led by Agagu in the battle of who gets what in the coming dispensation as regards Federal appointments.

Another sticky situation that is tearing the party apart in the state is that the other faction led by Alasoadura has equally sent  a separate ministerial nominees’ list to the party headquarters.

The faction is kicking against recycling of “spent bullets” that are included in the other list arguing that younger generation should be encouraged instead of shutting them out completely.

They have therefore forwarded their own list including Alasoadura, Isaac Kekemeke,Timehin Adelegbe,Ayo Ifayefunmi, Dr Jacob Gbakinro, Ayo Sebolatan, Professor Bode Iwaloye, Bode Sunmonu and two women Yejide Ogundipe  and Cecilia Ige

Now that members of the two factions are boasting of picking the plum positions, it is to be seen which faction would have the ears of the President or whose cries would get to him first.

Both factions have commenced intense lobbying and have been pulling strings in Abuja so that the President would be favourably disposed to them.

The Agagu faction is banking on former President Olusegun Obasanjo to put in a word for them before President Goodluck Jonathan while the other group has jumped on the back of the Minister who is well connected in Abuja for the consideration of its list. Whichever way it goes it is however clear that the party in the state may not be the same again.

If a faction wins and the other is left in the cold that may be the end of the remnants of the PDP in the state after it was decimated by the LP led by Governor Olusegun Mimiko in the last election. It is being rumored that as plan B one of the factions is already talking with the leaders of the ACN with the intention of defecting ahead of next year’s governorship election.

Speaking on the submission of their own list aside the one from the State Executive Council of the party, a chieftain of the party who was the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, SSG Hon Isaacs Kekemeke, said the list sent by Dairo is for Dairo’s PDP while other party members that were not accommodated would be accommodated in the group’s list.

“Although the group does not have a parallel exco, the list would be forwarded and signed by the Committee of former Party Chairmen and Secretaries and the Committee of former Federal Political Office Holders, all who are in the group and had been shut out by the Agagu/Dairo PDP,” he said.

According to him,  it would be wrong for the state executive to present a list that would not be in the interest of the majority of the members of the party and since the victory of the president was facilitated by all members, a cabal in the party should not monopolise the benefit.

But reacting to the other list aside the one that originated from the “authentic” party leaders, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Chief Adeyemi Adedipe disowned the other list.

Adedipe said, “l am not aware of any other list except the one that emanated from the state party secretariat duly signed by the chairman and the secretary.”

Meanwhile a group under the aegis of PDP Coalition Forum, has rejected the list saying that “the list was not inclusive and it was meant to finally nail the coffin of the party in the state.”

The Coalition through their Coordinator, Chief Ade Babalola said, “the names were arrived at without adequate consultations with all segments of the members across the state.”

The group which claimed that it has a broad_based support across the state said, “if this list is allowed to sail through, we want to say with every sense of responsibility that the PDP is dead in this state.”

According to them, the Ondo South Senatorial district has five persons in the list while Ondo North has just two while Ondo Central has three names. They questioned the rationale for the lopsidedness of the list.
Wondering how the name of a serving minister was not included in the list, the group said “majority of the names on that list are known enemies of the party who brought the PDP to its present prostrate position. They were in control of the party and yet they brought us to this sorry state.”

Also the former Information Commissioner Eddy Olafeso said, “the list cannot be allowed to stay because those names were drawn up by some people without any regard to the growth of the party. It is against all the known rules of the party therefore it is null and void.”

However to play safe and to avoid further rancour the party leaders in the state have called for another three names per the 18 council areas of the state for consideration in boards and parastatals.