Ogun PDP Holds Three Parallel Ward Congresses

Sheriff Balogun in Abeokuta

Ogun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday held its ward congress where three different factions of the party conducted parallel congresses in the 236 wards across the state.

The three factions include: Members of faction loyal to the Senator representing Ogun East, Senator Buruji Kashamu/Chief Bayo Dayo-led state exco; members loyal to former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and the third faction led by a member of the House of Representatives for Remo Federal Constituency, Ladi Adebutu.

The party crisis initially came up last Friday when nine members of the 14-man State Executive Committee threatened to organise parallel congresses, alleging that the leadership of the party had sidelined some party members by taken over their functions.

The nine aggrieved exco members led by the State Organising Secretary, Folashade Filani alleged that the Chairman of the party, Adebayo Dayo and his Secretary, Semiu Sodipo had been running the party in the state without carrying the others along.

However, the faction led by the state PDP Chairman held their congresses while the nine aggrieved exco members also organised separate congresses.

Meanwhile, Sodipo told journalists that the congresses were conducted by a committee approved by the National Working Committee of the party, adding that the State Working Committee of the party had no role to play in the conduct of the exercise.

“A committee has come from Abuja and they are moving round and I don’t think they will recognise that or attend to any other congresses except the one they are conducting. Anything of such will just be a pocket of small thing here and there and might not worth talking about,” he said. In his assessment of the conduct of the ward congresses, Chairman of the 11-Man Congress Committee, Muhammad El-Yakub expressed satisfaction with the exercise.

El-Yakub, however, said he was not aware of any parallel congresses conducted by any faction of the party in the state.