The former Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bosun Oladele has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not in the position to shop for presidential candidate for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the forthcoming 2015 elections.
Oladele who is one of the commissioners that were recently sacked by the governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi had said in a recent interview.
Oladele argued on the pedestal of the ability of the APC to have been able to surmount all the challenges it faced in the course of registering the party.
This was his reaction to the PDP’s comments that if APC picked General Buhari, that the PDP would floor it at the presidential election.
He added that this has been a major obstacle for the ruling party as that is the area “where the presidency and the PDP are catching cold”.
The ex-commissioner who said he has no intention to challenge his former boss in contest for 2015 governorship ticket of the All Progressive Congress, APC said this and also reacted to other issues in the politics of Oyo state.
“It is not the place of PDP to start shopping for presidential candidate for APC. Because, if a party has been able to surmount every obstacle that the presidency and the PDP had put in its way to get registered, then, that party is capable of picking a presidential candidate that will be generally acceptable to the change-loving people of Nigeria”, Oladele stated.
On his removal from office, he said that his long stay since in government since 1999 has been justifiable as he didn’t just want to quit politics early for charlatans that is, people who would not add value to the polity, others and to existence generally.
“So, that alone is a motivating factor. I would say that I am not out of politics but I am out of office as an appointee.
“I know a lot of politicking is going on and in the progressive fold, to which I belong, the people of the party will decide and I mean to say that the members, leaders and executives of the party will decide.
“So, if we start having a situation where there is a clamour, then the time is due for representation. For now, I am waiting, I am watching and I can say that I’m looking very closely at the situation.
He pointed out that he has yet to figure out the reason he was removed from office confirming that governor had been in contact with him prior to his sack.
“In all honesty, I am yet to know why I was removed from office. Nobody has ever told me anything. The governor has been in communication with me.
“No act of indolence, accusation of non-performance, etc were alleged against me. I was not levied with accusation of non-performance.
I want to say categorically that up till now, if you ask me what led to my removal from office, I will tell you I don’t know” he insisted.
“Oyo State polity is heating up and the die appears cast between the APC and the Ladoja’s Accord Party. But with the intra-party wrangling within your party, particularly between Governor Ajimobi and Senator Femi Lanlehin, won’t it hurt APC at the polls?
“But as we proceed now, we know we have one solid house but the enemies would always want to create divisions.
I know there will always be disagreement here and there. I know that the disagreement we are having now is based on principle and it is nothing personal.
On the struggle between Senator Lanlehin and Governor Ajimobi, Oladele noted that the duo is a set of matured leaders and at that level, doesn’t “in the progressive, we have ways of resolving issues”.
“Apart from the leaders we have at the state level, senators and the governor, we also have national leaders and I want to believe that at the end of the day, we would come out of this stronger and then ride to election and win.
“But the leadership of the party both at the state and national levels saw in their own wisdom the need to have a consensus. That was what led to the emergence of the present governor. And after the candidate emerged, everybody rallied round and worked for his success and we succeeded.
“And I believe that a lot of people also got what I could call palliative positions because the governorship itself is just one position and it is only one person that can occupy it” he opined.
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