A
former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, on Tuesday
met behind closed doors with President Goodluck Jonathan inside the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A source close to the meeting said the former governor was begged by the President to support the PDP during the election.
Oyinlola, a former National Secretary of
the Peoples Democratic Party, was led to the meeting with the President
by the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
The meeting, which lasted about an hour,
was said to have discussed the forthcoming governorship election in
Osun State and the disputed position of the PDP National Secretary,
currently being occupied by Prof. Wale Oladipo.
At the end of the meeting, Oyinlola told
State House correspondents that Mu’azu brought him to meet with the
President on how to improve the party’s fortunes.
He also said he remained the party’s
National Secretary in the eye of the law, describing “whoever is
currently holding the office as a pretender.”
The former governor said, “I was taken
to the Villa by the Chairman of the PDP, and we had some discussions on
to how to move the fortunes of the party forward. All I am telling you
is that Oyinlola in the face of the law remains the authentic secretary
of the PDP. Anybody in that office for now is a pretender!”
He left the President’s office before Mu’azu.
Some leaders of the All Progressives
Congress had recently visited Oyinlola in his home town, Okuku, with a
view to wooing him into their fold.
The former governor was quoted as saying that his continued presence in the PDP would be decided by Jonathan.
The source, who pleaded anonymity
because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said Oyinlola was
asked at the meeting to support the candidate of the party, Senator
Iyiola Omisore for the governorship election.
He said, “The President pleaded with him to support Omisore and the party and also to help in the campaign of the party.
“The President told him that he would
want him (Oyinlola) to be present at the party’s campaign when he would
be coming in order to give an assurance that he is with the PDP.”
In response to the demand by Oyinlola
that he be reinstated as the National Secretary of the PDP as ordered by
the Court of Appeal, the President was said to have said that the issue
would be looked into.
It was also gathered that the President
did not make any commitment on whether the PDP would be asked to
withdraw its appeal on the issue, which is pending at the Supreme Court.
Because of this, it was gathered that
the former governor and his supporters were of the opinion that the
President and the party wanted to use them to win the election and later
abandon them.
“We know the gimmick. We know the
politics. We also know what they are up to. They want us to be committed
to them and later abandon us. We are wiser,” the source added.
Our correspondent also gathered that the
President and the leadership of the party were not ready to trade away
the current occupier of the office of the National Secretary, Prof. Wale
Oladipo, who is the candidate of Omisore and PPP leader in the
South-West, Alhaji Buruji Kashamu.
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