Ogun 2011: Obasanjo plots Olurin/Iyabo-Obasanjo ticket
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Tuesday, 12 October 2010 09:53
- Written by Compass
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Ahead of the 2011 governorship election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Group of 15 lawmakers opposed to Governor Gbenga Daniel in Ogun State may have reached an accord to present former military administrator of the old Oyo State, General Tunji Olurin (rtd), as their consensus candidate for the poll.
Also, the alliance have allegedly concluded plan to field the former President’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, as the running mate to Olurin on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Nigerian Compass learnt yesterday that a secret meeting, where the plot was hatched, was held on Sunday evening at the hilltop presidential mansion of Obasanjo in Abeokuta.
It will be recalled that the conflict of interest among party chieftains had polarised the state PDP along Governor Gbenga Daniel and Obasanjo camps with each plotting to outdo the other in the build-up to the elections.
Those who attended the Abeokuta meeting included the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye, former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Tunji Egbetokun, Senator Ayo Otegbola, Olurin, Obasanjo-Bello, Prince Buruji Kashamu and some state lawmakers in Egbetokun’s camp.
Impeccable sources disclosed that the meeting was intended to perfect strategy on how the candidature of Olurin would be acceptable to party leaders and members across the state.
Olurin, who was appointed by Obasanjo as the Sole Administrator of Ekiti State during the emergency rule imposed on the state in 2006, is reportedly facing stiff resistance in some quarters in Ogun politics due to his age, frail health, lack of political base and popularity.
The 70-year-old retired military officer is from Ogun West Senatorial District, which is agitating to produce the governor for the first time in 34 years, and his posters had already flooded some parts of the state capital.
The Nigerian Compass, however, gathered that some party bigwigs have kicked against the plot, noting that the former President may have tinkered with the idea to make his daughter the governor through the backdoor.
A PDP chieftain, who spoke in Abeokuta on condition of anonymity, said the emerging arrangement may result in the scenario at the federal level, where Obasanjo foisted President Goodluck Jonathan on the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
“What they are doing will not benefit the state. They want to plunge the state into turmoil. How can they come up with this kind of arrangement? It is another Yar’Adua method used by Obasanjo which eventually paved the way for Jonathan becoming the President. He(Obasanjo) knows the state of health of the late President and still went ahead to impose him on the country as President. This is what he is trying to do again in Ogun,” the source said.
