A stick of broom cannot sweep clean except when in a bunch, so says an old adage. As such, individuals in a group must be seen to be pursuing unity and progress of an organisation which they belong at all times, or else the group will be heading for a big fall, particularly, among other competitors.

This perhaps informed the decision of political stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, who have now come together to fortify the party, especially after the PDP's ruling government pulled out of the party to pitch tent with the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP stalwarts, who remained in the party to fortify it, had initially embarked on individual pursuit of personal agenda to realise their political aspirations in the coming 2015 general election, but now seemed to have realised that in unity lies strength to overcome opponents.

However, political watchers are patiently waiting to see how long the seeming prevailing peace will be allowed to reign in the fold, as events leading to 2015 elections unfold.

The state congress of PDP was preceded by a lot of intrigues and horse trading. By the eve of the congress, it was observed that there were three main groups, namely the Kwara South/Kwara North Alliance, the Gbemi Saraki/Abdulrahman Abdulrazak group and the Professor Shuiab Oba Abdulraheem/Colonel Ademola Lawal Group.

It was also gathered that the Kwara South group had the likes of Chief Ogundeji (former Kwara deputy governor); Chief Samuel Adedayo; Deacon John Dara; and Senator Suleiman Ajadi as their arrow heads. Other interest groups included the Dele Belgore group and the emerging Hajia Muinat Shagaya group.

Report had it that the Kwara South group demanded that the chairmanship position of the party be zoned to it. After a lot of intrigues, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo became the chairmanship candidate of the Kwara South.

On the day of the congress, the Gbemisola Saraki/Abdulrahman Abdulrazak group repeatedly decided to partner with the Kwara South/Kwara North for a coalition. Thus, they persuaded Sunday Fagbemi, their chairmanship candidate to step down for Oyedepo. They said Oyedepo could have been a consensus candidate but for the insistence of the Lawal/Oba candidate, Mr Bode Ojomu, to go on with the contest.

With the conduct of the congress, some members of the party opined that a true democratic culture had been established in the state and that this culture was expected to come to play in the forthcoming general election. They also said the emergence of the Oyedepo-led executives, in a very peaceful and democratic manner, was a loud testimony to the fact that members of the PDP in the state can come together and agree on a choice of a popular candidate.

However, soon after the conclusion of the congress, it was reported that the party had been formed along two main groups: Freedom Group and Unity Group.

In the Freedom Group are said to be Professor Abdulraheem, Senator Simeon Ajibola, while the Unity Group has Senator Gbemisola Saraki, Honourable Issa Bio Ibrahim, Alhaji Razak Abdlrahman, Mr Lola Ashiru, and Deacon John Dara. Senator Ajadi and Belgore are not visible in any of the two groups.

Sign of harmonisation of political interests among contending chieftains of the party, which was apparent in events leading to the congress, saw aspirants from the camps of some stalwarts agreeing to step down.

However, the 'winners' of the congress had not sat down to relish their victory before a group of party members rose up to oppose results of the congress. The dissenting group said the congress that produced Oyedepo was fraught with discrepancies and described it as nullity.

Senator Banabas Gemade, who was the Returning Officer in the election, declared that Oyedepo polled a total of 375 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Bode Ojomu, who scored 255 votes, while Alhaji Mariam Alhasan scored 19 votes.
Speaking with journalists at the end of the exercise, Senator Gemade described the congress as peaceful, orderly, free and fair. He said the outcome portrayed internal democracy, adding that imposition of candidates on electorate, which had made PDP to lose elections in very sensitive places like Kwara, would not happen again.

The post of the deputy chairman of the party went to Abdulkadir Manko Attahiru, while Hassan Rasaq became the secretary. The posts of vice chairman (South) and Assistant treasurer were returned unopposed to Chief Gbenle Adeyemi and Julius Ore, respectively.

Mr Bolaji Raji, Alhaji Nma Mohammed and Abiola Moshood were elected as assistant secretaries for South, North and Central respectively. Honourable Nimota Oba-Sulieman was the women leader; Segun Olawoyin became youth leader while the post of legal adviser went to Musa Audu.

The post of publicity secretary went to Chief Rex Olawoye who polled 296 votes to floor his rival, Tajudeen Kareem, while Babajide Stevens became the Financial Secretary.

Just a few hours after the result of the congress became public knowledge, some chieftains of the party, under the aegis of The Freedom Group, rejected the result of the congress declared by the Electoral Committee headed by Senator Gemade. A statement signed on behalf of the group by Chief Lanre Ogundeji and made available to journalists in Ilorin, also said the outcome was full of discrepancies.

After a preliminary assessment of the congress, the group said the outcome was full of discrepancies, especially on the variance between the number of delegates accredited and the number of votes recorded for the contestants.

Specifically, the group said, whereas more than 800 delegates were accredited, just about 550 votes were recorded for all candidates who contested the chairmanship seat. "What happened to the balance of about 250 votes of accredited delegates”, it queried? The group also alleged foul play in the sorting and recording of voted for some candidates. It claimed that many votes cast in favour of Mr Bode Ojomu, one of the chairmanship candidates, were 'stolen' by officials engaged in the sorting exercise.

Moreover, Honourable Gabriel Olatunji, who contested to be vice chairman, Kwara North senatorial district, was said to have been scored zero even when the candidate voted for himself and had many supporters who voted for him at the congress. The group said it was convinced that the results declared at the end of the congress did not reflect the choice of the delegates who went through a rigorous screening and accreditation process.

The view being expressed by political observers in the state over political activities within the party is that the contending forces in Kwara PDP must close ranks to achieve success in the 2015 election, or else the ruling APC party may only make a mince meat out of the party in the future elections.