By HENRY UMORU

ABUJA — NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday commenced the sale of forms for intending gubernatorial aspirants into the election in Osun State ahead of the August polls.

Few hours into the start of the exercise, four governorship aspirants  from the state stormed the PDP National Secretariat to pick their nomination and expression of interest forms for a total sum of N11 million each.

The four aspirants who picked their forms yesterday were former governor Isiaka Adeleke; former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore; ex-Minister of Youth Development,  Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi and a former member, Federal House of Representatives, Oluwole Oke.

While Sen. Omisore picked his forms through Mr. Fadipe Felix, Sen. Olasunkanmi was personally at the National Secretariat to pick his forms.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed the Osun State gubernatorial  election for August 9, while the PDP primary election holds April 5.

Answering questions from journalists after collecting his forms, Olasunkanmi said: “One of the reasons Governor Rauf Aregbesola has not performed is that he has brought controversies into the state.

“He spent the first two years of his tenure arguing over the nomenclature of the state, whether it should be Osun State or State of Osun. How does that affect the development of the state?

“When I take over, I will revisit the re-classification of schools because Osun State must not be different.”

When asked if he would succumb to a consensus candidate, the former minister  who did not disagree with the process as it was not a wrong way of choosing a candidate, advised that there  must be a template that must be used if that would be the process, adding that if that would be the case, all the aspirants must agree, the eventual consensus candidate must be a loyal member of the party who does not threaten to defect and that  the person must be a financial member of the party, who must have been seen to be contributing financially to the growth of the party, adding that the candidate must also have a robust educational qualification, experience and impeccable, and the person must not be controversial candidate.