The crisis rocking the Oyo state branch of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seems to have no end. Governor, Seyi Makinde, and his loyalists were conspicuously absent at the pre-Atiku Freedom March press conference for the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, held at the state Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Iyaganku, Ibadan, on Tuesday.
The press conference was co-chaired by Jumoke Akinzide, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (State). Former Mines and Steel Development Minister Wole Oyelese. Hazeem Gbolarumi, the former deputy governor of the state, and Femi Babalola, another leader of the party.
A free march is scheduled for Wednesday (today) in the state capital, Ibadan.
Oyelese gave a prepared speech, in which prominent members of the party delivered speeches, saying that in the upcoming elections he would justify to the public why they should vote for Atiku.
He said, “Since the return of democracy in 1999, Nigerians can now see the difference between the PDP government and the APC government. During the Obasanjo and Jonathan years when PDP was in power at the centre, the Nigerian economy was much better than what it is now Nigerians never had to suffer like this.
“Now that Nigerians have experienced the APC government and what they got was unimaginable suffering, the difference is clear. Our people are going to bed hungry every night and they still have to sleep with only one eye closed because of insecurity as bandits, terrorists and common criminals prowl the land in search of victims. Prices of goods and services have skyrocketed and become unaffordable for the majority of our people.
“The Buhari administration has piled up debt. The infrastructural deficit can be seen in the absence of the most basic amenities. We are virtually in a hopeless situation. Another four years of APC will throw Nigeria into the Stone Age.”
Speaking on five aggrieved party governors, the former Deputy Governor of the state, Gbolarumi, and former Minister of State for FCT, Akinjide, said the outcome of the G-5 meeting would not have any effect on the chances of their presidential candidate during the election.
“We are dissipating energy on what is inconsequential. We should concentrate on what affects over 50% of the nation’s population. Nigeria has been tagged as the poverty capital of the World. The APC has impoverished the nation. The unemployment rate is unprecedented.
“Nigerians are being killed daily. The GDP growth is worrisome. Nigerians are seeing PDP as the best alternative,” they submitted.