PDP Convention: Fayose, Omisore Deny Osun PDP Delegates Participant Tag

By Lukman Ayelabola

The factional crisis rocking Osun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a new twist on Saturday, as delegates to the National Convention of the party from Osun were denied participants tag.

CityMirrorNews gathered that the new chairman of the PDP in Osun, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, members of party state, local and ward executives, who were supposed to be the delegates at the convention, were not given tags.

Investigation revealed that the tags for the South-West states delegate were handed over to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State for distribution.

Fayose, instead of delivering the tags to the Osun PDP state chairman, gave the tags to Senator Iyiola Omisore, whose camp boycotted the last ward, local and state congress that produced new set of party executives in the state.

The controversial governor of the Ekiti and Omisore belong to the same PDP South-West faction who conducted zonal congress that was nullified by court.

CityMirrorNews learnt that Omisore distributed the delegate tags to his supporters among which are Dr Bayo Faforijin who was the chairmanship candidate from the Omisore’s camp at the state congress, Prince Diran Odeyemi, a contestant for the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP and Akintunde Bello Sherif, a disqualified contestant in the state congress.

Omisore and his supporters attended the national convention held in Port-Hercourt, Rivers State as Osun PDP delegates.

Adagunodo, who was supposed to lead the party executives from Osun state to the convention, as the state chairman of the PDP, was nowhere to be found at the convention ground.

A chieftain of the PDP, who was also in Port-Hercourt for the convention, Mr Funmiso Babarinde confirmed that Adagunodo and other delegates had no tags to participate at the convention.

Babarinde stated that Omisore, Faforijin, Odeyemi, Sherif and other PDP members who attended the convention as delegates were not the authentic delegates of Osun PDP to the convention.

According to Babarinde, none of them was a state, local or ward executive who are the recognized delegates to the convention.

The former Assistant Organising Secretary of the Osun PDP described Omisore, Faforijin, Odeyemi, Sherif and others as impostors and impersonators, saying that they cornered the delegate tags meant for the real state delegates.

Babarinde, however, stated that the real delegates from Osun led by Adagunodo did not attend the convention because they had known that it would be postponed.

The PDP national convention, which had earlier been postponed by the former National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Alimodu Sherif, was held by the National Working Committee and the PDP Governors faction at port-Hercourt, while the Gerry Gana led faction had a separate convention in Abuja.