As part of the strategy, President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with a former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in what analysts see as an attempt to resolve the crisis in its Osun chapter ahead of the August 9 governorship election.
The PDP’s candidate in the election, Iyiola Omisore, is the major challenger to the incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola, of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The former governor, who was controversially removed as National Secretary of the PDP, and is challenging his removal and eventual replacement in court, is believed to wield a major influence in Osun.
Oyinlola who was accompanied to Tuesday’s meeting by the National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu, was a member of the New PDP which was formed when some PDP governors fell out with the former party chairman, Bamanga Tukur.
When the New PDP eventually merged with the APC, Oyinlola decided to remain in the PDP but to fight for his position.
Oyinlola, a known loyalist of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is believed to have also been courted by the incumbent Osun governor.
Though the retired Brigadier General would not disclose details of his discussion with President Jonathan, he however said that he was determined to reclaim his position as National Secretary of the PDP, stressing that anyone occupying the office of the Secretary of the PDP is a pretender.
Oyinlola had after a PDP meeting said he was a rallying point to record victory for the party during the Osun governorship election and the 2015 general election.
“I was taken to the villa by the chairman of the party PDP, and we had some discussions as to how to move the fortunes of the party forward,” he said on Tuesday, stressing that “All I am saying 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.”
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