2019: Anxiety in APC as membership cards scarcity hits PDP

…148, 500 cards exhausted in one day

…It’s indication PDP will win Oyo in 2019 – Ladoja

Reports reaching NEWSVERGE have confirmed that the regrouping of some erstwhile members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) back into the umbrella party in Oyo State has sent jitters into the camps of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

APC leaders and political appointees in the party converged on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, in an emergency meeting to deliberate on the way forward for the party in the South-West region.

Chief Rashidi Ladoja

But party’s national Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Minister of Finance, Mrs  Kemi Adeosun; Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola were all absent at the meeting.

The meeting featured deliberations on compelling issues and developments in the collective interest of the South West region.

It will be recalled that a similar meeting held in January this year where the leaders resolved to close ranks and forge a common front on governance and other national issues.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State

Meanwhile, one day after the PDP began its membership registration, the Oyo State chapter of the Party was hit by scarcity of membership cards across the 33 local government areas in the state.

It was gathered that a total of 148, 500 cards distributed across the councils were exhausted on the first day of the registration exercise, in some wards within hours after registration opened.

Each of the 33 councils was given 4, 500 cards which were distributed onwards to each of the 350 wards in the state at between 400 and 450 cards.

Party leaders, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune about the development, said between 600, 000 to one million members were being targeted at the end of the exercise.

Apart from the councils in Ibadan metropolis which were the worst hit by the scarcity, other areas where the acute shortage is being felt included Oyo, Ogbomosho and Oke Ogun areas.

Some of them are: Oyo East Ward 5 Apinin, Ward 10 Araromi, Ward 7 Jabata, Atiba, Oke Afin units and others, Ogo Oluwa, Surulere,

The leader of the PDP coalition and former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja told Nigerian Tribune that the scarcity of cards only after a day of registration was an indication that the party was back to winning ways.

He assured the people of the state that PDP would end their pain and anguish, asking them “to ensure their Egyptian experience a little while more before a new dawn in the state.”

“Now, names of members are being written in ledgers pending when more cards will be send from Abuja. In some units in Oluyole Local Government Area, cards were exhausted within three hours. We have sent for more cards.

“This is an indication that the PDP is the preferred choice ahead of the 2019 elections. This coalition is a solid one that will sweep the pain and anguish of the people of the state away,” he said.

Chief Bola Tinubu, APC national leader