Osun 2018: PDP Moves to Woo Aggrieved APC Members, Whip Up Community Sentiments

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has begun to strategise for the 2018 governorship election and wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Our correspondents gathered that the PDP, in a secret meeting held with leaders of the newly inaugurated Caretaker Committee in the state on Wednesday, has resolved to woo aggrieved members of the APC and get them to undermine the party.

According to some PDP leaders who attended the meeting, the PDP leadership has raised a team to work on and get the aggrieved APC members, especially the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Lasun Yusuf and Alhaji Fatai Diekola.

The sources confided in our correspondent that the PDP leaders also resolved to compromise some perceived disgruntled members of the APC to cause crisis in the party and portrayed it as a factionalised party.

It was learnt that the PDP admitted that a fair campaign would not convince the people of the state to vote for the party in the forthcoming election.

According to the sources at the meeting, the PDP concluded to set discontent for the APC by selling messages of hate, peculiar to a locality to the people with a view to getting members of the public in such locations to hate Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the APC.

Specifically, the hateful messages are to be designed to stress a problem in a locality is meant to whip up community sentiment against Aregbesola and the APC in towns and cities.

For instance, Governor Aregbesola is to be held responsible and make the scapegoat of any wrong in any town or city or make uncompleted projects in such place as a deliberate wish of the governor and the APC.

According to the sources, the PDP is working seriously to ensure that Aregbesola and the APC lose the strong grip it has on Osogbo, the state capital by watering down his love in the heart of Osogbo indigenes.

To achieve that, the PDP allegedly resolved to sell a story that Osogbo is being marginalized in the Aregbesola’s administration with too little number of appointments and that the governor is victimizing prominent Osogbo indigenes who are members and supporters of the APC.

The PDP also resolved to discredit the Aregbesola’s achievement in Osogbo by watering down their essence and dissuading indigenes of the city from commending him on the ground that Osogbo deserved more infrastructural development than what it is on ground compare to the vote given to the governor.

The medium learnt that the PDP has been recruiting people to carry out the hatchet job.

For Iwo Federal constituency, the PDP sources disclosed that the dilapidated Osogbo/Iwo road was chosen to launch the hate campaign against Aregbesola and the party.

The story to tell the people of the Federal Constituency, according to the sources, was that Aregbesola deliberately refused to reconstruct the road as a mark of lack of concern for the plight of the people of Iwoland.

It was also gathered that the PDP members resolved to play devil’s advocate by telling the people of Iwoland that Aregbesola did not treat the Secretary of the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti well and attempted to frustrate him out of office.

“They wanted to paint a picture that Aregbesola does not like Iwoland and that is why the SSG is being marginalized by his administration”, said the sources.

The sources also said that the PDP allegedly concluded on embarking on campaign of calumny with the ongoing Gbongan/Osogbo road dualisation which has gone on for more than two years which was initially earmarked for it.

“At the meeting, the party concluded to poison the mind of the people of Gbongan, Ode-Omu and other communities that the Gbongan/Osogbo road is serving. The people engaged for the job will be telling the people that Aregbesola has bastardised the economy of the area with the non completion of the road”, the disclosed.

It was gathered that the PDP has begun move to source for fund to implement these strategies.

Senator Ademola Adeleke who is representing Osun West Senatorial District at the Senate, two other people in Lagos and one of the recently inaugurated Caretaker Committee members have been penciled down as financiers of the project.