Saraki Dynasty Has Been Weakened - Oyedepo

Date: 2014-05-05

Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo is the chairman of the PDP in Kwara.  He speaks on PDP’s mission to recapture Kwara from APC, saying with unity in the party, the task is achievable. Excerpts:

What challenge does your election as the new PDP chairman in Kwara State place on you?

I have two major challenges, one within and one without. The challenge within is the divisive tendencies within the party which is normal in any political organisation, because politics essentially is management of intrigues. So intrigues within, have to be well managed. People who may want to dominate one another; people who may feel more important than others. Such people are in the party and we have to manage all. That is the problem within. If we solve the problem of the intrigues, certainly all other things would fall in, there would be party unity and once there is party unity, there would be commitment by party members and we would be able to excel and achieve whatever goals we have set for ourselves.

Well, the challenge before me outside the party is facing the government in power. Yes, it is a major problem which has to be acknowledged. We have a government that controls all the instruments of power in this state. They control the executive and the legislature. They control the sixteen local governments and 193 wards of Kwara State. It is a very big challenge and it is a political structure that has been there for sometime, that is the one being controlled by APC now, but serious as the challenge might be, we can beat that challenge, we can get the structure dismantled if we are able to solve the first problem which happily is being solved now.

The opportunity that we have is that much as the APC has the government, resources and any other thing that can be counted for them, they don’t have the goodwill again in Kwara State. Majority of the people of Kwara State are Bukola-fatigued; they are tired and they want a change and that is our selling point; that is what will make things possible for us.

There were insinuations that you were sponsored by certain people,within the party. How will you react to this?

That is why I said politics is the management of intrigues. I want to tell you that we have managed the intrigues within our party. When we were doing the congress, our party was polarised into two. We have the Unity Group and the Freedom Group. To the grace of God and to his glory, we have been able to merged the groups together and I want to tell you that our unity has now led to our freedom. We were able to sit down with the aggrieved members of the party and they laid their cards on the table and we were able to satisfy them including the desire to run an inclusive administration, and that has given them hope and confidence in my leadership. So we don’t have any problem in the PDP in Kwara. There is no division, there is no factionalisation, everybody is ready to work and face the octopus.

The opposition believes there is division in the PDP, people are looking at the division that might arise as a result of nomination to offices. How do you intend to manage this? 

You see it is not for the opposition to believe that we are together. In fact I believe they would be happy if we are not together. They would be sad if we are together. So they want the crisis to continue. I want to tell you that my emergence as chairman of PDP in Kwara State is an act of God and I am on an assignment to bring the divisive tendencies in the party together so as to win elections in this state. So I want to assure everybody that cares to listen, that I am not a candidate or chairman of an individual within the party. Some group along the line came to support my aspiration and my chairmanship, but it is not that one group within the party that sponsored me. I should be a bridge builder, I should not destroy. I am above group interests, I am above individual interest, I am above being controlled by an individual in the party.

Recently you told APC government to be ready to vacate Government House. What gives you the confidence that PDP would recapture power in the state?

You see I still want to maintain that APC in Kwara State is living on a borrowed time, because they have in their hands a stolen mandate. When they ascended power,  it was through the PDP structure, but today they are operating the government using the PDP-won election.

We are going to recover the mandate from them even before 2015, that is why I am calling on our members to go out and work because we may face the general election earlier than scheduled.

Don’t you consider it a herculean task to defeat Saraki’s structure?

It is possible. Whatever has a beginning must have an end. If what Bukola now represents is the structure of Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, he can only continue with the legacy if he has reformed it and repositioned it. But what I can see in Bukola is, he is even more crude in the exercise of power than his late father, therefore nobody will want to continue with that kind of way of administering a party or the system of government. Therefore the dynasty is now very, very weak and there is nobody that has weakened that dynasty other than Bukola Saraki himself. Remember that Senator Gbemisola Saraki (Bukola’s sister) is even with us and so it is a divided dynasty- one is in progressive, our own camp which I consider progressive. The other one is playing an hegemonic politics that can never last. Therefore to face a weak dynasty is not a herculean task, it is something we are prepared for. People are tired and the time is up.

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Aminu Adisa Logun     Hikmah AbdulKareem     Veterinary Teaching Hospital     Oja-Oba     Abdulquowiyu Olododo     Alaiye     Muhammed Mahe Abdulkadir     Umar Bayo Abdulwahab     Mahmud Ajeigbe     Oluronke Adeyemi     Elerin Of Adanla     Kubra Kazum     Kemi Adeosun     Bolaji Nagode     Christian Association Of Nigeria     Jaiz Bank     Amosa     All Peoples Party     Yakubu Shaaba     Oke-opin     Lawal Olohungbebe     Association Of Kwara State Online Media Practitioners     Umar Ayinla Saro     Samuel Elizabeth Keatswa     KWACOBPA     Adeola Abraham     UNILORIN Alumni     Dauda Adesola     Oyun     Ubandoma     Labour Party     Ahmed Saidu Rufai     Kwara Coalition Of Business And Professional Associations     Hydro-electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission     Abdulrauf Yusuf     Trade Lenda SME Fair     Saka Balikis Kehinde     Rotimi Samuel Olujide     Elekoyangan     Sam Onile     Saudat Abdulbaqi     Hijab     Tosho Yaqub     Saidu Isa     Aishat Mohammed Lawal     Olatunji Bamgbola     Isiaka Danmeromu     Ilorin Muslim Community     Millennium Development Goals     Femi Oladiji     Umar Gunu     Yomi Adeboye     Adamu Atta     Mustapha Olanipekun     Zubair Folorunsho Erubu     Niyi Osundare     Tunji Moronfoye     Lai Mohammed     Shonga Farm Project     Ridhwanullah Al-Ilory     Ibrahim Mohammed     Ibrahim Gambari     Idowu Laro     Umar Yakubu Jaja     Musibau Akanji     Trader Moni     Bamikole Omishore     Offorjama     Kwarareports     Frootify     Moses Adekanye     David Oyepinola Adedumoye     Monsurat Omotosho     Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital     Emir Of Kano     Iyabo Adewuyi     Chikanda    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Universal Basic Education Commission     Shehu Alimi Foundation     Bello Taoheed Abubakar     Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq     Joseph Offorjama     AbdulQowiy Olododo     Salman Suleiman     Laduba     Ambassador Kayode Laro     Rafiu Ibrahim     Taofik Abiodun Ahmed     Shettima     Shuaib Boni Aliyu     Prince Mahe Abdulkadir     Adewuyi Funmilayo     Akanbi-Oke     KWTV     Samuel Olusegun Adedayo     Abatemi Usman     Mubarak Oladosu     Shehu Alimi Foundation For Peace And Development     Zainab Abass     Apaola     Christopher Odetunde     Omu Aran     Salmon Babatunde Salmon     Lateef Ademola Olatunji     Muhammadu Gobir     A.O. Belgore     Aliyu Muhammad Saifudeen     Olatunji Ibrahim     Muhammed Abdullahi     Kwara Teaching Service Commission     Okin Biscuits     2023 Elections     Aliyu Kora-Sabi     Metro Park     Al-Adaby     Sadiq Umar     Bola Iyabo Ibiyeye Adisa     Bello Bature     Economic And Financial Crimes Commission     Abdulrauf Aliyu     Gamji Members Association     Abdulrasheed Na\'Allah     Tsaragi/Share     Halimah Perogi     Oba-Solagberu     Eleja     Seun Bolaji     Volunteers Of Ilorin Community And The Emirate     Senate President     Kwara Poly     3MTT     Abdulazeez Uthman     Waheed Ibrahim     Ibrahim Akaje     AbdulRazaq Jiddah     Olatunde Olukoya     Joseph Daudu     Fola Consultant     Hassan Abdulazeez Elewu     Niyi Osundare     Suraj Tunji Oyewale     BIR     Kubra Kazum     Gbugbu International Market     Oniwa     Geri-Alimi Split Diamond Interchange     Ibrahim Taiwo     Sulyman Atolagbe Alege     Mogaji Aare     Joseph Alex Offorjama     Ahmad Ali     Moses Adekanye     Anilelerin     Mamman Saba Jibril