Jimi Agbaje, and the state executive members, led by Dr. Adegbola Dominic, are believed to be working at cross-purposes.
With about six weeks to the conduct of the governorship elections,
crisis is currently rocking the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) as its governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, and
the state executive members, led by Dr. Adegbola Dominic, are believed
to be working at cross-purposes instead of uniting to forge a common
front against the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A chieftain of the party, who spoke with Daily Independent on
Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said since his emergence as the
party’s flag bearer, Agbaje had been running a one-man show, believing
that he could do without the leadership of the Lagos PDP or party elders
in the state, such as Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National
Chairman of the party.
He said while Agbaje had been running his governorship campaign
with the team he set up without carrying the state PDP along, he also
picked his running mate, Mrs. Haleemat Busari, without consulting the
party leaders.
According to him, many party leaders who only heard of Busari’s
choice in the media were angry and made attempts to kick against the
decision but were prevailed upon by the party’s leadership to refrain
from doing so in order not to create the impression that the party was
disunited.
The source said: “The reality is that there is no unity in
Lagos PDP and this may mar our chances in the forthcoming governorship
election. Jimi Agbaje and the state exco of the party are not working as
a team.“If you remember, majority of the state exco members are
loyalists of Chief Bode George and, as such, they don’t like Agbaje whom
they see as a traitor for daring to contest against his benefactor for
the national chairmanship of the PDP.“Agbaje himself has not helped matters. Since becoming the
governorship candidate of the party, he has constituted his campaign
team and neglected the leadership of the party who are the key drivers
of the party.“Can you imagine Agbaje never consulted the party before
picking his running mate, Mrs. Busari? Many of our party members and
leaders were shocked when they heard about the news in the media.“You can imagine the anger of many party members on account of
this. The issue would have gone out of hand but for the appeal by the
leaders of the party such as Chief Bode George who implored them not to
make the issue public so that the APC will not capitalise on it.”
When a Daily Independent correspondent contacted Adegbola Dominic,
the state chairman, on the allegations that Jimi Agbaje was not carrying
the party along in his campaigns, he said: “That is not exactly
correct. It is true that there may be some intra-party differences, but
we are resolving that. We are working together and we will achieve
victory in 2019.”
Similarly, Agbaje denied the allegations, saying he enjoyed a harmonious working relationship with the Dominic-led executives.
Speaking through Felix Oboagwina, his spokesman, Agbaje said he
notified all the party leaders before choosing his running mate but
added that what some complained against was that she was not a prominent
member of the party who was known to all.
“It is not true that party leaders and state exco have not been
carried along. When the deputy governorship candidate, Haleema Busari,
was chosen, all stakeholders were carried along.“Before the announcement was made, everybody who was a
chieftain of the party knew about her. All they can complain about is
the fact that she is not a frontline member of the party.“Before her announcement and final selection was made, several
names had been bandied and then she was zeroed in upon. Of course, it is
normal that it is only one person that will be picked at the end of the
day.“From the day she was picked, she became a product of the
entire party. On the issue of party excos and leaders not being carried
along, we don’t know where that is coming from.“There is a structure that the national leadership of the party
has put in place in all the states that are holding elections in 2019.
The structure is called the Campaign Council and the instruction is that
it should be headed by the governorship candidate of the PDP in the
state while the state PDP chairman will serve as the vice-chairman.“In Lagos, the PDP Chairman, Dr. Adegbola Dominic, fills that
role and he is doing it very well. He is being carried along and they
hold regular meetings.“There are about 10 people in the Campaign Council in Lagos
State and because of the structure that was in place somebody like
Rahman Owokoniran, a very close lieutenant and confidant of Jimi Agbaje,
who was the last Director-General of the campaign, had to drop from the
council to accommodate every other member of the party who are part of
the structure.“According to the structure that PDP is using, the campaign
structure is also duplicated at the local government area level where a
prominent member of the party in the local government area heads the
council in the local government area.“The same is also replicated at the ward level. At all these
levels, the candidates for Senate, House of Reps, and House of Assembly
are part of these structures. So, all these talk about disunity is the
handiwork of mischief makers who want a divided party before the
elections,” he said.
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