By Akinwale Kasali
Governor Seyi Makinde and other top Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chieftains and in the South West are not leaving any stone unturned against the 2023 general election.
A delegation of the South West Reconciliation Committee of the Party, has met with former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, at his Sagamu, Ogun State home, with a resolution that the former governor must return to lead the Party in the State out of its current crisis.
The delegation to Daniel’s house included Governor Makinde, Chairman of the Reconciliation Committee, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Zonal Caretaker Chairman of the Party, Hon. Dayo Ogungbenro; and other party stalwarts.
Governor Makinde extolled Daniel’s capacity as a politician, his doggedness, and mobilization prowess.
He said the party in the South West needed to take his stand and tell the national leadership what he wants.
Makinde said if all former Governors of the PDP in the South West would rise to take back their party, the party at the national level will not have a choice than to align with it, and forge ahead.
The Governor recalled the crucial role Daniel played in reorganising PDP in Oyo State before the 2019 elections to return it to back to winning ways in the state.
On his part, the former Governor of Osun State and the Chairman of the Reconciliation Team, Oyinlola, said he had met with three groups in Ogun State and the resolution was: “If we have to solidify our stand in Ogun, you (Daniel) have to take charge.”
He assured that once the leaders in the South West presented a common front, the national leadership would comply.
The leader of a PDP faction in Ogun State, Dr. Remi Bakare, warned that all reconciliatory efforts could come to nought if all parties were not ready to reach a compromise.
Bakare said the only way forward was for the national leadership of the party to dissolve all factions and reconstitute the state party structure under the leadership of Otunba Daniel.
In his reaction, Daniel said the crisis in Ogun State PDP was very easy to solve if all parties are made to know their place, adding that the solution to the problem must be all encompassing.
He said: “I have relationships with practically everybody.
“The PDP is still a strong brand, if everybody comes together.
“Our administration remains a strong reference for governance in the state and you can see that almost everyone who has or is in power came from PDP.”
Daniel laid more emphasis on the need for the party hierarchy in Abuja to realise the uniqueness of the South West so that they can properly intervene without truncating the process.
Immediate past Governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, waa a thorn in the flesh of his predecessor, he destabilized his businesses due to his upport for the election of the incumbent Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who contested on the platform of the APC, at the expense of Amosun’s Candidate.
Daniel however pointed out that he is a statesman who was out to protect the interest of the state and not acting as a politician.
Shortly after the election, some of his businesses grounded by Amosun, especially Conference Hotel and Suites in Abeokuta, which had gone to rot when the former governor stopped him from opening it to business after completion, have come back to life.
This Online medium gathered that Daniel has renewed his bid for the national Chairmanship of the Party.
He was said to have made this known to the members of the Reconciliation Committee on Wednesday.
His initial bid for the PDP national chairman’s seat in 2017 ended in controversy as the seat was given to the incumbent, Uche Secondus, at a convention in Abuja, with the heavy influence of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is set to throw his hat into the PDP National Chairmanship race.
