A factional governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, Segun Showunmi has warned that the party may not produce a candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial poll.
This followed the presentation of a certificate of return to Hon Oladipupo Adebutu by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
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Both Showunmi and Adebutu are laying claims to the party’s ticket having emerged at parallel primaries held in Abeokuta, the state capital, last month.
However, Senator Iyorchia Ayu led PDP leadership on Tuesday presented a certificate of return to Adebutu, thereby recognising him as the candidate of the party in the state.
In a swift reaction, Showunmi described the presentation of the certificate of return as “lawless shenanigans.”
Showunmi noted that with the ongoing legal battle over the disputed PDP ticket, the opposition party might experience what happened to the ruling APC in Rivers and Zamfara during the 2019 last election.
He said “On the so-called certificate issued on Ogun PDP Governorship. What came to my mind upon hearing that despite the cases before the court on the Ogun PDP governorship primaries, very typical of them, They have gone on to purportedly issue a worthless piece of card to one of the contenders.
“Please ask them what became of this type of lawless shenanigans. they tried it in 2011, they failed, in 2015 they failed, and in 2019 they failed.
“It is too early to celebrate in 2023. Let us wait on the courts.
“Relax! Efa rabale! This is not a lawless society, APC danced in Zamfara, they ended up with no candidate in Rivers, how much more with a location where they are looking for 100% of Zero.”
Meanwhile, the PDP governorship candidate for Ogun State, Adebutu has promised to reconcile all stakeholders and other contestants toward winning the election in the state.
Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Abuja after receiving his certificate of return, the governorship hopeful said the certificate was the reward for all the hard work put into winning the governorship primaries.
He said the task before the campaign team was to reconcile all the aggrieved members of the party, saying, “I can assure you that we have already embarked on that duty. We will continue to reach out to those that feel that they have a grouse.
“I’m sure that with time, we shall have total reconciliation and we shall even extend hands of fellowship beyond the party and make it an inter party thing because we can even see fellow brothers from other parties trying to join our party now and I am sure that after their convention, we shall be welcoming them.”
Adebutu also said the issue of his running mate was being handled by the stakeholders and stated that a consensus would soon be reached on the development.
From Peter Moses (Abeokuta) & Baba Martins (Abuja)
