BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE – THE house of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ondo State is fast crumbling no thanks to the in fighting and blame game that had trailed the woeful performance of the party in the last general  election in the state, which last week culminated in the indefinite suspension slammed on the Defence Minister Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN.

Leaders of the party led by the immediate past governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu, had been so miffed at their failure to win the Senate, House of Representatives and the House of Assembly elections across the state.

Consequently, a failed senatorial candidate of the party has since mounted a campaign against the retention of the Defence Minister Prince Tokunbo Kayode.

Kayode was accused by the chieftains that lost the election of not providing soft landing for them in the last election by directing the Military and other security operatives under his purview to “assist” candidates of the party in the last election.

However, a former Information Commissioner, John Mafo, has denied that the party axed Kayode for not providing military to help the PDP win the election but that the Minister connived with governor Olusegun Mimiko to use the Military to rig in favor of the ruling Labour Party, LP.

Some PDP stalwarts in the state believed that with the portfolio given to Kayode he should be able to use his “boys” to intimidate the other political parties especially the ruling Labour Party and had banked on this move to win the April polls.

But Kayode refused going by the crusade of President Goodluck Jonathan that votes should count in the election unlike in the past where those who were supposed to be umpires became participants in the election. This was said to be the beginning of his trouble which climaxed with his indefinite suspension.

However, his crucifixion has attracted condemnations across the state with other factions calling for the sack of the leadership of the party which had failed to win any of the  five elections within two years.

It first started like a rumour but it came to reality last week Wednesday as it was learnt that on the directive of a former governor the state chairman of the party and the secretary Dr Tayo Dairo and Barrister Olusola Oludipe forwarded a letter to the National Secretariat of the party accusing the minister of anti-party activities.

Sources said one of Kayode’s ‘sins’ was his alleged plan to reconcile the many warring factions of the party as a result of the Court of Appeal verdict that truncated the administration of former governor Agagu and thereby become the defacto leader of Ondo PDP. One of the camps feared that the plan would make it lose out in the coming dispensation especially in the presentation of candidates to be elected into political positions from the state.

It was learnt that a letter from the PDP National Secretariat requesting the party in the state to present 10 suitable party faithful for elective positions found it way into the hands of the Minister who in turn brought it to the attention of the former governor but things went awry when Kayode said that it was an opportunity to reposition the party by using the opportunity to bring all the three factions in the party together.

Another source said that another sin of the Minister was his romance with one of the formidable faction of the party in the state. This was said to have drawn the ire of the third faction, which vowed to whittle down Kayode’s bigger than life influence within the party. “They do not want a situation where Kayode will become the most powerful PDP member in the state and be dictating things to the detriment of other big wigs,” the source said.

The rising profile of the Minister is said to be causing ripples as he was the one the Presidency related with during the elections especially the Presidential election and the pass mark given to him by the ruling LP after the Presidential election was another blow to his adversaries within the PDP.

The Minister during the Presidential election took it upon himself to rally support for the President by holding series of political meetings with stakeholders impressing it on them that they had no alternative than voting for Jonathan. The mobilisation of the people across the state by the Minister was attested to by the ruling LP in the state when it said that after the loss of the National Assembly election, the leaders of the PDP abandoned the President.

The ego trip and disaffection among the leaders of the party, according to sources, led to the writing of a letter dated April 29  to the National Chairman of the party, Dr Haliru Mohammed alleging that the Minister connived with the Labour Party -led administration in the state to rob it of victory in the last elections.

Dairo in the letter accused Kayode of using the Military to rig the election in favour of the LP in the state.
They said that the “poor outcome of the election for our party in Ondo State cannot be entirely divorcéd from the hearted, nay the lack of commitment and indeed betrayal of our corporate interest by some key leaders of our party, who in the main have chosen the instrument of their respective offices to undo our party at the most auspicious occasion. Remarkably, among these key officers who worked assiduously for our failure is Hon Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode.”

They said that Kayode betrayed the trust of the PDP by working with the LP.

The party equally accused Kayode of deliberately starving the party of funds for mobilisation since his appointment.

But aides to the Minister said that all the allegations were false  as the Minister donated N2million on monthly basis for the running of the party in the state when the Dr Dairo-led executives cried to him for financial assistance. They added that many of the leaders of the party in Ondo were given patronage by the Minister  to empower them but only few party members were in the know of these generous assistance.

Reacting to his suspension, the Minister said his alleged suspension by “a tiny but ineffectual cabal in Ondo State PDP is a pathetic ruse, illegal, unconstitutional null and void and of no effect or consequence.”

Speaking through his Special Adviser, Dr Banji Ajaka, he said the action allegedly taken by this cabal in the state was against the content and spirit of the constitution of the party.

According to him, there had never been a time that he was called upon by the party to explain any of his actions both at his private and official capacity.

The Minister said he had “no regrets for supporting the President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to conduct a free and fair election in 2011 as he had no apologies for delivering Ondo State for Goodluck at the Presidential elections.

Kayode pointed out that” the soldiers that were deployed for the election were not meant to intervene in the election but to maintain peace and ensure that the elections were held across the country without rancour.

According to him, “this new distraction was a calculated attempt by some dead woods in the Party to further polarize it instead of joining hands with him in his efforts at building a strong party for future elections”

He, however, said he would not be distracted from his desire to help build a formidable PDP in Ondo State.

Leaders of the PDP who kicked against the sack of the minister by the leadership of the party in the state include the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hon Isaac Kekemeke. He said that the Dairo-led executive was outdated and should be the one to be sacked instead.

“They should have buried their heads in shame. Some of us feel embarrassed. They have always been embarrassing us in the party, for saying that the reason why the honorable minister was suspended for anti-party activities was that he failed to use the military or soldiers to help the party during the election.

Are we saying we are not on ground? Are we saying the party is not popular enough to win election on its own without any influence? Are we saying the party is not in tune with the modern trend of making sure that individual vote counts. I must tell you the present leadership or whoever is teleguiding them must be reminded that this party does not belong to them alone and they are beginning to embarrass us, the party members.

”What the  current leadership must to do is to step down, having failed woefully to play the role of the opposition party, having failed to mobilise party members, having allowed themselves to be decimated by Mimiko government, it is very embarrassing. They should leave the honourable minister alone, after all they are the people taking contracts from him.  They took N450 million War college contract and so many others.

They are the people, who took two million Naira monthly from the minister to run the party in the state, yet they could not account for it. They should be compelled to account for it and should step aside so that the party can be revived and reorganised,” he said.