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An enlarged stakeholders’ forum of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state on Thursday endorsed the
state governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, as candidate f the party in the
2011 governorship election.

The forum held a meeting at the Banquet
hall of the Government House Ibadan, but, for the umpteenth time, most
aggrieved members of the party were conspicuously absent at the meeting
and no formal reasons were given for their absence.

The likes of Lekan Balogun, Rashidi
ladoja, Yekeen Adeojo and Wole Oyelese, who have distanced themselves
from the state party hierarchy and keep agitating for a complete
departure from the legacies of the late Lamidi Adedibu within the
party, refused to show up at the meeting yesterday.

Loud silence

Unlike the one held last week, where it
was announced that all the absentees sent messages to explain the
reasons for not coming, the forum could not give any defence for the
absence of the main aggrieved members yesterday.

Their loud absence ignited open disagreement among the attendees of the meeting.

For instance, Victor Omololu Olunloyo,
former governor of the state, said the governor and his caucus have not
done enough to effectively woo the aggrieved members back to the fold,
urging more action in that direction.

But Richard Akinjide, former Minister
of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, disagreed with him
and said the governor had done more than enough to bring the aggrieved
members back, saying “there is limit to every patience”.

“The governor had bent backward to
accommodate them, we have begged them both in the open and in secret,
we have offered them money also in the secret and in the open, yet,
they have refused to be appeased. If I were the governor, I could not
have done what the governor did,” Akinjide offered as explanation of
the extent the governor has gone to win them back.

Unanimous adoption

The former chief legal officer of
Nigeria said the structure of the party empowers only the National
Vice-Chairmen of each geopolitical zone to look into issues within
their zones, and that in the case of the South-West, the leader so
empowered is based in Osogbo. He is to look into every issue concerning
the party in the zone, including Oyo State.

“If anybody feels he knows the Acting
Vice-President and runs to Abuja for issues to be handled in the zone,
we will let the people know that they don’t know him more than the rest
of us” he said.

Mr. Akinjide, who gave the welcome
address, told the gathering that the Elders’ Forum had summoned the
meeting to feed the people back on the decisions taken at the maiden
meeting of the forum held last week.

Gbenga Babalola, the senator
representing Oyo North Senatorial District at the National Assembly,
read out the communiqué of the closed door meeting. He informed that
the stakeholders unanimously adopted the candidature of the incumbent
for the 2011 governorship election.

Mr. Babalola, however, said the adoption is not ruling out the party
primary for interested candidates for the contest within the party. He
stressed the party will still make it open when the time comes, but
that the stakeholders, about 400 in number, would cast their votes for
Alao-Akala at the primary election.