OSUN 2014: OKE BEGS OLASUNKANMI, OMISORE, ADELEKE TO STEP DOWN •AS OMISORE, ADELEKE PROMISE TO WIN BACK OSUN FOR PDP

As the preparations for the gubernatorial election scheduled for August 9, in Osun State hot up, one of the aspirants under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon Wole Oke, on Wednesday, pleaded with other three leading contenders in the party to step down from the race and endorse him as the PDP’s flag bearer, for the party to defeat the incumbent, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, at the poll.

Those that Honourable Oke, a two term Chairman of the House of Representatives on Defence in the 5th and 6th National Assembly, wanted to step down for him are Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, a former Minister of Youths Development; Senator Isiaka Adeleke, first Executive Governor of the State and Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former Deputy Governor in the state.
He spoke with newsmen shortly after he submitted his nomination form for the governorship race at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja.

This is coming just as he accused Governor Aregbesola of disconnecting the people of the state from their resources which had never happened since the state was created.

According to him, “I have appealed to these political heavy weights, to step down for me and give me this ticket on consensus basis and they know I can never be rude to anyone of them. They know I am the unifying party candidate, they know I am the only candidate that can bring everybody together.”

Meanwhile, the duo of Senators Iyiola Omisore and Isiaka Adaleke, contesting in the August 9 governorship election on the platform of the PDP, on Tuesday, vowed to win back the state for the party if given the mandate.

They debunked the wrong impression in some quarters that the South-West was the base of the main opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had been designated a no go area for other political parties, insisting  that the opposition came into power in the zone through the back door  and would be eased out at the poll.

 The aspirants, who spoke with newsmen in Abuja yesterday after submitting their nomination forms at the National Secretariat of the party, advised the incumbent governor, Raufu Aregbesola, to as a matter of urgency start preparing his handing over note for democratically elected PDP governor, saying that the days of misrule in Osun State were numbered.

 According to Senator Omisore: “The issue of APC versus PDP in the state, of course, is a forgone issue, because the man that is there now came in through the court, he forged police documents and was charged for this. He came in through the back door, by now we are ready.”

Also speaking in the same vain, the first Executive Governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, said that he joined the race following pressures from elders of the party in the state to come and salvage the state from the ruin of the APC.

According to him, “I decided to contest to boost the chances of the PDP in the coming governorship election, there are pressures here and there for me to come and rebuild the state.”

tribune