• Says Ex Gov Oyinlola is a betrayer

By Shina Abubakar Osogbo

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chairman in Osun State, Mr Sunday Bisi has disclosed that the party constitution does not recognize stakeholders forum, hence, it cannot be removed by such an unknown entity.

It was reported that a group of aggrieved party members in the State, under the aegis of party stakeholders removed the Chairman over abuse of office.

However, Bisi in a statement he personally issued on Thursday, described his purported removal by a so-called stakeholders’ forum as illegal and of no effect, declaring that an illegal assembly cannot sack an elected chairman with a subsisting tenure.

“The forum lacks legal powers or mandate to remove or tamper with the elected structures of the party. I remain the chairman, and as the PDP has no candidate for the August election, the party has endorsed Governor Ademola Adeleke for re-election.

“That is the fact of the situation, as the public is aware of the leadership crisis within the PDP. Our elected officials, minus the governor and the Deputy governor, remain in PDP. Our party has no candidate and we have accordingly endorsed Governor Adeleke.

“Anybody saying anything else belongs to the small group who did not vote for Governor Adeleke during the 2022 guber polls. The mainstream of the PDP covering all our local and ward structures support our leadership and the direction we took to endorse the governor”, the party chairman said.

He added that the forum which was led by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s action was “an open betrayal and a continuation of a failed 2022 plot to stop Governor Adeleke”.

The party chairman posited that the PDP endorsed Governor Adeleke due to the division in the party which caused it failure to have a valid candidate for the August 8 governorship poll.

“The division within the PDP threatened the candidacy of our governor. The right thing was done by the governor to seek a platform for re-election. Prince Oyinlola was even the first to make the suggestion. This minor rebellion has failed before it starts.

“The mainstream of Osun PDP stands by the governor, by our leadership and by our elected mandate as state officers which cannot be truncated by any unelected, illegal and unauthorised group”, he added.