By OLA AJAYI

Having tasted the juice in political power, major stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Oyo State seem to be ruing the internal squabbles that led them to lose control of the state to the Action Congress of Nigeria. Could they have lost out for the foreseeable future?

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Oyo State was at one time a formidable entity. That was before its major stakeholders allowed bitterness to grow and blossom in their midst.

Though some chieftains such as Senator Lekan Balogun, Elder Wole Oyelese, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Alhaji Yekini Adeojo cried foul and showed their disapproval on how the party was allegedly being run as a personal property, the national leadership of the party for some inexplicable reasons was unable to find a solution to the crisis.

Unfortunately, the political bitterness was allowed to fester until it yanked the party from the major political positions it held in the state. It is as such not surprising that the PDP is today biting its fingers in regret for not only losing the state but the entire South West. Instead of being the leader, the party is now being led by the more aggressive and focused Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

Otunba Alao Akala

Having tasted power and known how juicy it is, members of the party in the state have appreciated how it feels like to be led.

So last Wednesday, they began to rebuild their collapsed ‘house’ as they came together under one umbrella and agreed to speak with one voice at Akanran in Ona Ara Local Government. The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide took the mantle upon herself and performed a rare feat of bringing together all the lost ‘sheep’ and prodigal sons and daughters of the PDP family.

That day was unique in many respects. Those who had been living as cat and mouse before hugged and embraced one another. It was a good sight to behold. They were close to tears for having missed the cord of love and unity that bound them together. But the coming together would not have been possible if not for the initial steps taken by the estranged leaders of the party to put the past behind them and forge ahead.

Vanguard gathered that some chieftains of the party including the former Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, Senator Folarin, Senator Lekan Balogun, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja had earlier met in Lagos to bury the hatchet and other grievances they had been nursing against themselves in the past four years. Also, Senator Lekan Balogun, Alhaji Gbolarumi Azeem and other members from the other faction met at the Alarere residence of Senator Balogun to further fine-tune the reconciliation.

At the gathering last Wednesday about 1,500 PDP members who worked for the ACN in the April 2011 elections from wards 01 and 11 of Ona Ara Local government area returned to the party. They were led by the former Vice Chairman of the PDP in the local government, Alhaji Sobalaje Bakare and Elder Jide Ojo. They publicly confessed that they worked against the party in the election but have come back to the PDP.

Alhaji Sobalaje said, “we caused our own downfall, but now we have resolved to come together to mend our collapsed ‘house’. A few minutes before we came here to formally return to our home, a chieftain of the ACN telephoned me and asked if it was true that we were going back to the PDP. I replied him “Yes.” While at ACN, we never obtained their party membership card; we only helped them to win the election”.

Another returnee was the chairman of Accord Party in the council, Alhaji Waheed Ajao Adurodekun. Likening Accord to an ice block, he said, “Accord party is like an ice block that alienated itself from water. There are only two ways to make it become water: allow it dissolve naturally or heat it with fire”.

He said, “we are still expecting our members from Accord Party to come. I know they are still coming. This is a true reconciliation. It was not the PDP that actually lost the election, it was the members of the party that actually ruined themselves. Speaking on the occasion, Oloye Akinjide said she was not surprised in the least by the true reconciliation of members of the party.

Jumoke, who spoke through her Personal Assistant in the state, Mr. Gabriel Olatundun added that she was given the directive by the national leadership of the party to ensure that all aggrieved members of the party reconcile to resuscitate the party in the state.

Earlier, the minister had organized another forum where members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in the council defected to the PDP. The minister said it was not pleasing that out of all the six geopolitical zones in the country, it was only in the South West that the party did not form government in any of the states.

She said, “If you go everywhere across the country, there is a PDP government. Southwest cannot be an exception. By the grace of God we shall not be pushed to the background. We will win the next election”.

She tasked all chieftains of the party to work extra hard to ensure that the party gets back the state in the next election. While welcoming the defectors from the ANPP, she added that their defection was well appreciated because it was near impossibility to see people join a party that just lost an election.

“I am happy today because Ona Ara is number one. I know that the local government has reclaimed its glory. I don’t know if it is in history that people come to join a party that recently lost an election. But that is happening in Ona Ara. All the ANPP in Ona Ara want to come. I accept you with all my heart. I want to tell you that in Ona Ara, we don’t cheat. We don’t do hooliganism. We don’t backbite. We are all united. You are part of us and you shall not regret your joining us”, Akinjide said.

The reconciliation is bound to send a strong message to the ACN administration in the state that it could only sustain itself by delivering on its promises.