Oyo 2019: PDP is breaking my heart || By Owolabi Oluyori

Far left and far right, where is the body that holds them? – Beta Metani’ Marashi

IT’S just few months to the next general elections in Oyo state, and the Oyo state People’s Democratic Party (PDP) family is stuck in a circus of crisis. The quote above by Beta Metani’ Marashi perfectly describes the scenario presently ongoing within the Oyo PDP.

For a while now, the eggheads within the party, particularly the ones who attempted a merger some few months ago, have been at loggerheads over many things which include but not limited to control of the party structure and elements.

Apart from preventing the Oyo PDP from getting and giving a clear direction to the electorate regarding putting up a formidable opposition to the incumbent, this ongoing fissure has also stirred disappointment amidst a section of the polity that expected alot from the much publicized political merger.

Basically, since the so-called merger, the perennial ambition of Engineer Seyi Makinde has not been able to neither agree nor understand the language of Senator Rasheed Ladoja’s ancient drive, hence, chaos.

A Yoruba proverb says ” agbé májà kan òsí, a já máàtán ni ò da”, which when loosely transliterated means that, conflicts within any accord are naturally expected to occur, but it gets overbearing and bad when it overstays its occurrence.

So, I totally understand that this kind of infighting and conflict presently ongoing within Oyo PDP is part of the idea of politics and politicking in Nigeria and in fact, politics all over the world. But then, to say that this seemingly unending and circus-like rancor of interests within the Oyo PDP is absolutely UNTIMELY, will not be opining far from the truth.

In fact, with the risk of sounding harsh, one could say the Oyo PDP family is not thinking well. Oh yes, they must have lost their thinking cap, because really, who openly toys with this ripened chance to stage a formidable opposition to the incumbent party ahead of the 2019 elections?

You can imagine that while the Oyo PDP is busy rigging itself with holes and basking in an inability to cement a merger, they have lost bigwigs to the APC. In December 2017, while Oyo PDP was dancing ‘azonto’ to their own tunes of war, former Governor Alao Akala, Senator Teslim Folarin, a former deputy Governor, Taofeek Arapaja and some other PDP bigwigs were dancing ‘shaku-shaku’ into the APC at Mapo.

I mean, for example, how can you be preparing to contest to win a general election in Oyo state and you lose the entire bloc of Ogbomoso votes (read Akala) to your own negligence and to what I’ll call political self-jaundice? Just how?

Last week, while attending the Landlords’ Association meeting in my area, the name of one of the rumored and prominent gubernatorial candidates of the APC kept coming up as we discussed the 2019 elections. In a way, this proves that while Seyi Makinde and Ladoja have both turned Oyo PDP to a boxing ring for their overfed egos, the APC gubernatorial hopefuls have been working and have apparently refused to think that they have any edge (an edge they actually have).

My heart is broken really, and I’m sure I speak for a handful of the Oyo electorate.

My heart is broken, not because I want the PDP to win the gubernatorial mantle in the next four years, neither do I wish the APC per se. I just want the best head and mind to lead Oyo state moving forward, and I believe a strong opposition will somehow compel both parties to present their best options to us the electorate, and ultimately, the best for Oyo state. So rather, my heart is broken because the Oyo PDP is not helping with achieving this, considering this continued discord within.

May Oyo state succeed.

Owolabi Oluyori is an Ibadan-based Lawyer who wrote from Ashi, Bodija.