Osun PDP Crisis Worsens as Bisi Rejects Removal

As different voices inside the party publicly repeated their viewpoints on the party’s structure and political direction ahead of the upcoming governorship race, new information regarding the leadership crisis shakening the PDP’s Osun State chapter have surfaced.

The status of Sunday Bisi, the state chairman, who has denied allegations that he has been removed from office, is at the heart of the conflict.

A stakeholders’ forum’s announcement of his alleged expulsion, according to Bisi, was unconstitutional and ineffective.

Speaking to reporters in Osogbo on Thursday, Bisi insisted that his term as the state’s legitimate party chairman is still in effect.

“The forum does not have the authority or mandate to alter or abolish the party’s elected structures. “I’m still the chairman,” he declared.

He maintained that decisions impacting elected officials could only be made by the party’s duly formed institutions operating within the parameters of its constitution.

Bisi revealed that the PDP in Osun had supported Governor Ademola Adeleke for reelection rather than putting forth a candidate for the August governorship election.

The PDP has supported Governor Ademola Adeleke for reelection because it does not have a candidate for the August gubernatorial election. He said, “That is the reality of the situation.

Bisi stated that the majority of the state’s elected politicians were still PDP members, although acknowledging conflicts within the party.

“The PDP still includes our elected politicians, with the exception of the governor and deputy governor. Since our party does not have a candidate, we have endorsed Governor Adeleke,” he continued.

The chairman also addressed comments ascribed to Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former governor, saying that they were at odds with the stance of what he called the Osun party’s mainstream structure.

“The statement attributed to former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola is part of a failed 2022 plot to stop Governor Adeleke and is an open betrayal,” Bisi stated.

He clarified that the governor’s political future was uncertain due to internal PDP differences at the national level, which led to some strategic choices.

“Our governor’s candidacy was in jeopardy because to the rift within the PDP national leadership. The governor did the right thing by looking for a reelection platform. He even claimed that Prince Oyinlola was the first to propose this idea.

Bisi said that the Osun party’s core leadership and membership base continued to support the decisions made by the existing state executive.

“The governor, our leadership, and our elected mandate as state officers are supported by the mainstream of the Osun PDP and cannot be shortened by any unelected, unlawful, or unauthorized group,” he said.

Prince Oyinlola had earlier insisted that the PDP was still a strong political force in the state during a separate stakeholders’ gathering in Osogbo, even though it was claimed that Governor Adeleke had defected to the Accord Party.

He stated that the purpose of the gathering was to provide clarification on national and state-level party developments.

According to Oyinlola, “there have been some confusing narratives being pushed out about the status of PDP, especially in Osun State. What we have done today is narrate situations as they are to our members, so that the entire wards and local governments in Osun will know exactly where PDP stands today in Osun State.”

In response to allegations that Adeleke’s reelection was facilitated by the breakdown of the state’s PDP apparatus into the Accord Party, Oyinlola denied the allegations.

The PDP is an organization that has a presence throughout the entire nation. We will not let it perish in our own time,” he declared.

“We are holding on to PDP,” he said, adding that the party was still receptive to new developments. Our governor is welcome to return and spend time with his family in the PDP tomorrow, but for the time being, the party is firmly established in Osun State.