PDP screens Ademola Adeleke, nephew, five others ahead Osun governorship poll

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wednesday, screened its former candidate in the 2018 Osun State Governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, along with his nephew and political rival, Dele, as well as, five other aspirants, ahead of the poll scheduled for July 16, this year.

Senator Ademola Adeleka was not initially among the six aspirants screened, but he was later admitted by the committee, and now joins six others who will vie for the party’s ticket for the poll fixed by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) for this year.

Senator Adeleke was set to clinch the victory at the 2018 poll when controversy reared its head as INEC declared the election as inconclusive. However, in the run-off called by INEC among the three leading candidates; Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adeleke of the PDP and Iyiola Omisore of the SDP, the latter merged his platform with the APC to secure victory for Oyetola.

Dele Adeleke, one of the other six candidates earlier screened by the committee, is a nephew to the Senator Ademola Adeleke.

Chairman, Osun PDP Governorship Screening Committee, Mohammed Adoke, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

Adoke said that all the six aspirants who turned out for the screening exercise have been screened, adding that the screening was transparent and fair.

“We ensured that we executed the mandate given to us by the party. We ensured that we worked with the dictates of our conscience and dictates of fairness.

“As a party in opposition preparing to win the next election, we ensured we built the necessary trust within party members so that we can work in tandem with our objective, which is to win the Osun election.”

All the aspirants that spoke with newsmen shortly after they were screened expressed confidence in the committee and satisfaction with the process, saying they were optimistic of scaling through.

An aspirant, Akin Ogunbiyi, expressed hope that PDP would win Osun, saying the people of the state were waiting for the party to take over power in the state.

Ogunbiyi said that if given the mandate, he would change the narrative of tagging Osun as a state of civil servants, teachers and farmers, to an industrialised state.

“Osun is ready for PDP. When I win the election, my administration will pursue purely agricultural- based industrialisation.

“Osun should be able to feed, if not the entire nation, at least the southwest,” Ogunbiyi said.

Ogunbiyi expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the state in the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) in recent times, saying that was below expectation.

He stressed the need for free education as well as harnessing the mining sector for the development of the state.

Another aspirant, Omirin Oluseye, who pledged to stay with the party irrespective of the outcome of the party’s primary election, also advised his colleagues to stay and work for the success of the party in Osun.

“As far as I am concerned, I am a party man. I have joined this party since inception and I am one of the founding fathers of this party,” Oluseye said.

On his part, Alhaji Abdulfatai Akinbade, expressed support for a consensus candidate to ensure that a wrong person does not win PDP’s ticket, saying that the party could not afford to lose its chances this time.

Akinbade, who described himself as the most qualified aspirant for the party’s ticket, said he was an experienced politician, administrator, former commissioner and former secretary to the government of the state.

“I know where the shoe pinches. I know every nook and cranny of the state,” he said.

Also, Dele Adeleke, one the screened aspirants said that the idea of having a consensus candidate was not bad, but the party must do it democratically.

Adeleke also described himself as a credible politician with grassroots support, who could win the election for PDP in the state.